In this coming-of-age memoir, Moody narrates her physical, spiritual, educational, and psychological growth from the age of 4 to when she is a young woman in her 20s working for voter registration in Mississippi. Coming of Age in Mississippi is nonfiction, but Moody’s autobiography is similar to a type of fiction called a Bildungsroman, a coming-of-age novel. In the Bildungsroman, the main character begins a quest, usually in response to loss, and the novels ends with main character coming into maturity. The chronological sequence of Moody’s narrative mirrors the Bildungsroman. A coming-of-age novel often highlights education, and Coming of Age gives a detailed account of Moody’s experience from first grade to college graduation. Education is also important to Moody because she is the first person in her family to graduate from college—an accomplishment she has done mostly without help from her family.

Whereas coming-of-age novels in the European tradition usually end in the main character accepting societal values, Coming of Age in Mississippi does not. Moody’s particular quest involves trying to understand why white society regards her and other Negroes as less than equal and even less than human. She deliberately works against the predominant white society, which creates difficulties in her personal life as well as in the larger system of racial inequality and segregation.