In this autobiography of Anne Moody aka Essie Mae, as she is often called in the book, the struggles for rights that poor black Americans had in Mississippi are recounted. Things in her life led her to be an activist in the fight for black equality during this time. She faced many adversities growing up, such as being beaten, having her house burned down, moving to a different school, and being abused by her mother's boyfriend. One incident that would have made Anne Moody curious about racism in the South was the movie theater incident with the first white friends she made. The other was the death of Emmett Tillman and other racial incidents that would involve harsh and deadly circumstances. This would have made Miss Moody realize that this should not be tolerated in a free world. The first time he talked about racism was at the cinema, before he even realized what it was. This incident made her start to wonder what racism was and what made blacks and whites different. In Centerville, Mississippi, where he lived with his mother, a sister (Adline), and a brother (Junior). In Centerville they meet two other boys who happened to be white. Essie Mae had never been friends with white children. The two white children Katie and Bill always rode their bicycles and skates in Essie Mae's front yard. So one afternoon they attracted their attention by making Indian noises to entice them to play with the others. Katie and Bill always let Essie ride her bike and skate, the others were too young to let them try. So they would develop a close relationship without knowing what others might think of these two bands playing. Every Saturday, Essie's mother always took them to the movies, where the blacks had to sit on the balcony and the whites could sit downstairs. But they saw Katie and Bill there, so Essie, her brother and sister followed them downstairs. While the mother didn't realize what was happening, when she did she started screaming and dragging them out the door. The children started crying, this would make their mother leave the cinema.