Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Coming of Age in Mississippi, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Intersection of Racism and Poverty
Loss of Innocence
The Importance of Community
Gender and Racism
Religion and Hypocrisy
Summary
Analysis
In May 1964, Anne returns to the Freedom House in Canton for “Freedom Day.” Anne is surprised and moved by the amount of people attending the march. As she listens to the young people sing, she feels a difference in their spirit, sensing the young people’s belief that they really have the power to change the world. She feels hope for the future once again. However, during an altercation, the cops nearly beat one of the teenage activists to death while two FBI agents idly look on. A group led by an 86-year-old man volunteers to go to jail in protest. After Freedom Day, Canton is placed under a 9:00 p.m. curfew. Back in Tougaloo, Anne sees Ed King and warns him not to go to Canton that night. They don’t listen and experience police violence in Canton.
The spirit that Anne feels while the young people sing at Freedom Day represents the power of collective action. However, once again, her brief hope in the future of the movement is followed by a disappointment. This time, it is in the form of government-sanctioned police violence. However, the elderly man who leads the party of those who volunteered to go to jail represents a new hope for the Movement, as Anne continuously struggled to involve Black people of the older generation in the movement.
Themes
That Sunday is the day of Anne’s graduation. However, after the violence of the previous day, it is not an overly joyous occasion. None of Anne’s family members attend graduation, and she feels alone. Ed King takes Anne, Memphis, and Joan, the original actors in the Woolworth’s sit-in, out to dinner to celebrate. Anne realizes how much she respects Ed King and asks him silently to forgive her for doubting him as the only white Southerner—and a Southern minister, at that—on the faculty. Anne and Joan plan to work on the Summer Project.
Ed King’s dinner with Anne, Memphis, and Joan after graduation represents the chosen family that they have found in fighting for their cause. Anne’s reflections on her doubts about Ed show her ability to reflect on her own past prejudices against white people and ministers, having developed a nuanced understanding of race and racism in America.
Themes
Anne returns to New Orleans for two weeks before starting work with the Summer Project. Though Anne is angry with Adline for not coming to her graduation, her anger subsides when Adline tells her she had used the bus ticket money to buy Anne a new dress. Adline tells her that she may get a college diploma, too.
Adline’s statement that she might follow Anne’s footsteps in going to college shows the importance of a role model. It also shows Adline’s drive to break the cycle of poverty in her family, having found inspiration in Anne.
Themes
