Coming of Age in Mississippi was published in 1968 to overwhelmingly enthusiastic acclaim. Around the country, journalists, reviewers, even politicians, remarked upon Moody's stirring story and the historic chain of events to which she bore witness. Senator Edward M. Kennedy became the spokesperson for the New York Times with his 1969 review in which he declared that Coming of Age in Mississippi was "a history of our time, seen from the bottom up, through the eyes of someone who decided for herself that things had to be changed." Kennedy was certainly not alone in his thinking. C. N. Degler also remarked in the Nation on the timeliness and importance of Moody's work: "Though the author of this autobiography is only twenty-eight years old, her life has already spanned the revolution that has ... made racial equality the central issue of our time."

Coming of Age in Mississippi was successful...