The Sixties was a time dominated with Civil Rights Protests, the Vietnam War, the assassination of John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the death of 34 men in the Watts Ghetto Riot, and the coming of age of Essie Mae. Anne Moody, who depicts herself as Essie Mae in her autobiography set in the 1960’s gives her readers inside on what it was like to be “Coming of Age in Mississippi”. Essie’s many visuals and real depictions of the racial tensions between black and whites in the 1960’s were followed by personal experiences between white and black families, insight and details on the murderous hatred, unexpected acts of kindness and ultimately the perseverance of Essie Mae and her hope for the movement. The controversial topic of racism has …show more content…
Another instance is when Wayne and Essie Mae start to work together on homework and she starts helping him and his friends with problems they can’t do. Mrs. Burke is a white woman fully not supporting the supreme court decisions and the integration of schools and after Wayne becomes very fond of Essie Mae, Mrs. Burke makes sure that Essie was “dropped off first” (235) or always asking if the chores were finished because she did not like the interaction between the two. Wayne still cared for Essie Mae and she always wondered “how it was that Wayne and his friends were so nice and their parents so nasty and distasteful” (236). When Emmett Till was killed and Essie began to speak of his death there was always a sort of dismay she felt because she knew somehow the story was always changed due to the fact the whites were trying to protect themselves. Mama was always telling Essie Mae to “Do your work like you don’t know nothing”, (219) but Essie was always curious thinking there was more to the story than just a whistle. After some time, Essie Mae moves into Diddly’s house and his wife wants to buy her some new furniture but not from “no secondhand store shit!”. Essie was so consumed by