Korb has a master's degree in English literature and creative writing and has written for a wide variety of educational publishers. In the following essay, she explores the pervading racism that characterized the southern United States prior to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.

Coming of Age in Mississippi is a stark testimony to the racial injustice that characterized the southern United States until the civil rights movements of the 1960s brought lasting changes to the region. African Americans had been given full voting and citizenship rights after the Civil War, but with the exception of a brief period immediately following this conflict, many southern African Americans were unable to enjoy these rights for close to one hundred years. The southern world into which Moody was born in 1940 was one ruled by whites. Her autobiography is filled with incidents that serve as a reminder of this...