Hidden Figures By Margot Lee Shetterly Segregation / Civil Rights Movement

The color of one's skin does not define them; nor does it give people the power to define others. Kathryn Stockett's novel, "The Help" is an eye-opening and awe-inspiring story about coloured women speaking their truth. The truth is spoken through Skeeter, a white woman who believes that change is needed in Jackson, Missippi. After hearing about Aibileen's late son's idea about writing a book of what it's like to work for the white men, Skeeter asks if she could write a story about the help. A dozen maids tell their stories of what it's like working for the white folks, and with this truth comes consequences, betrayal, and the loss of friends.

The book , The Help by Kathryn Stockett, is about a women named Aibileen who is a black maid. She is taking care of her 17th white baby now. She works for a woman named Miss Leefolt. Aibileen has never disobeyed an order in her life and never intends to do so. Her friend Minny is the exact opposite. When she is around her boss, she has to hold herself back from sassing them all the time. Skeeter Phelan is different than the rest of the white ladies. She thinks that blacks aren’t all that bad. She decides to write a book about the lives of maids for white ladies. Otherwise known as the Help. She with the help of Aibileen and Minny hope to create a book that starts a revolution about what white people think about blacks.

“The Help” was a film that portrayed what life was like for African American women during the 1960s era in Jackson, Mississippi. Although the film was somewhat lacking in historical accuracy, it did contain some historical facts that could give one some insight into the history during this era. The film did reveal the segregation that was occurring and the economic disparities that restricted black women’s work opportunities (ABWH). The majority of African American women in the South worked in white households as house maids as shown in the film (ABWH). “The Help” also revealed how dangerous times were for civil rights activists by bringing attention to Medgar Evers’ assassination on June 12, 1963 in Jackson Mississippi (Dargis, Manohla).

“‘Don’t you ever wish you could change things?”’ (10). In Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960’s, woman ahead of her time, Miss Skeeter, proposes an idea to write a book about the lives of colored maids in Jackson. Aibileen and Minny, two maids, are among the first ones to agree to help Skeeter, despite the potential danger to themselves. In The Help, Kathryn Stockett creates an engaging and immersive world that explores racism and social injustice by using well-developed writing, the ideal amount of imagery, and strong characters.

The book “The Help”, written by Kathryn Stockett, is a book that takes place in Jackson, Mississippi, around the 1960's, when the blacks were segregated from the whites. The story is mainly about a black woman Aibileen whose main job is to take care of children as well as to handle household duties. Along the way they meet a woman Skeeter's whose lifelong dream is to become a writer however the only job she can find, is with the Jackson Journal writing a housekeeping advice column which she knows very little about. To succeed in the job, Skeeter turns to her friend's maid, Aibileen, for answers and help to write the column.

Within the movie “The Help” a variety of major issues represented, most directly the discrimination that existed in the 1960s. The movie itself follows the journey of a white, budding journalist and her relationship with two black maids, Aibileen and Minny, during the Civil Rights Movement in 1963 Jackson, Mississippi. To start off her career as a journalist, she decides to write a book, titled “The Help,” that recounts the experiences of the black maids in her town to help expose racism. As critical as the movie is of the racial discrimination that existed in its time frame, some continue to say that it silently communicates racist tones throughout the entire movie. This argument is justified as the movie often found itself highlighting the

Aibileen does this by telling mae mobley different stories with colored people and white people in the story to show that everyone is equal “i want to stop that moment from coming, and it come in ever white child’s life, when they start to think that colored folks ain’t as good as whites” (ch 7 pg 112). This moment in a child’s life should be stopped and each child should be taught that everyone is equal and that no one person is more important or valuable than the next. Aibileen committed to doing the right thing even helps out a white woman Skeeter Phelan and she helps her write a book on how colored maids are treated in the workplace and how the helps life is. When Aibileen starts helping skeeter with her book skeeter tells AIbileen “changing jackson mississippi is gone be like changing a light bulb” but Aibileen is unsure whether she wants to change it all “I don't know if i want jackson mississippi to change” Aibileen says in response to skeeter. In the 1960’s being of colored descent was very difficult white men and women thought themselves as superior to others such as the Jim Crow Laws made white people feel more superior to colored

In the book, The Help, Hilly Holbrook, a resident of Jackson, Mississippi, is distinctly portrayed as the antagonist of the novel. Her power and wit sustain her hunger for control among not only the “help” of the city but the socialites and newcomers of Jackson as well. However, She uses her height on the social status in town as leverage for her many schemes. Among the Junior League, new citizens of Jackson, and the initiation of new ideas to promote segregation in areas such restrooms within the homes of white citizens with colored “help”, Hilly empowers many southern whites at the time of the civil rights movement. It is through the portrayal of a female figure that the idea of segregation is enforced not only by the authoritative male figures of this time, but the dominant woman that drive the

The Help is written from the view of the three main characters Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter from a small town named Jackson, Mississippi. First Aibileen, she is one of the primary African-American maids in the novel that works for the Leefolt family. Secondly, Minny is the feisty, smart-mouthing African American maid that works for Mrs. Holbrook till she is fired and later begins working for Mrs. Foote. Lastly, Skeeter is a young Caucasian woman who has returned from graduating college and dreams to be a writer. Skeeter hopes to change the typical southern views Jackson has of blacks that is apparent on every page of this novel. This sparks an ambition to write a book about the “helps” point of view on working for white families that is so

The most compelling character of this novel was Aibileen, an African-American maid working her days taking care of precious Mae Mobley Leefolt and the Leefolt’s house. She cooked and cleaned and earned little to no pay while doing so. Aibileen faced many conflicts throughout this book such as working through her son, Treelore’s death as well as raising a white two year old in a strict white woman’s house. She taught this girl to learn to love herself because her own mother was not. “Gave Mae Mobley one more hug, whisper, ‘You a smart girl. You a good girl.’” (Stockett 111) The biggest conflict Aibileen faced, however, was sitting down everyday and being interviewed by Skeeter Phelan who was a privileged white girl trying to make it as a writer. Skeeter asked Aibileen questions about what it is like to work as a maid, the challenges she faced daily, and trying to overcome the segregation gap in Jackson, Mississippi. As hard as it was, Aibileen answered all of these questions honestly in attempts to help Skeeter publish a book about working as a black woman during that time. Aibileen was developed well by the author because she showed the relationships she developed with white characters such as Skeeter and Mae Mobley. During that day and age, a black woman working together with a white woman was unheard of. Throughout The Help, Aibileen was going against the norm of society to try and find peace in this splintered town which made

As Zora Neale Hurston once said, “If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.” In The Help by Katherine Stockett, three brave women of different races join together to stand up for what they believe in and publish an anonymously written book based on the treatment of black maids working for white families in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960s. In the novel, Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter tell their stories from different perspectives in order to give voice to those who cannot be heard.

The Help has a very important and relevant plot. Skeeter Phelan, a strong-headed young woman who sees the reality of racism the black maids face in her town of Jackson, Mississippi, decides to write a novel exposing what it is like to be working as a coloured woman tending to white families. After much effort, she convinces a friend’s ‘help,’ Aibileen Clark, to share her stories and recruit other Jackson maids to tell theirs. Through struggle and abuse, Minny Jackson continues to work as a maid to Celia Foote who is a slightly off-her-rocker, but well-meaning woman. Skeeter is involved in an on-again-off-again relationship with a Senator’s son, Stuart Whitworth, until he finally gives up trying for her when she admits to him her secret. Finally Miss Hilly, the town’s self-appointed queen, rules the racism with an iron fist and tries her hardest to sabotage Skeeter’s project. This book fits the theme

But they do not know what a pathetic mess I turn into when Leroy’s beating on me. I’m afraid to hit back...How can I love a man who beats me raw?” (485). Towards the end of the book here, Minny explains how weak and controlled she feels when she is being abused by her husband, Leroy. This is another dramatic story that portrays the intense emotion in this book. Both Aibileen and Minny experience difficult times and this fact further worsened the presence of segregation in their town. For example, the book described many examples of discrimination including Hilly’s bathroom initiative (every white family with a black maid required an outhouse for the maid, so they would not “catch diseases”), a police officer killing an innocent black man in front of his children, and not allowing colored people to use the public library among other facilities. These examples of segregation clearly depicted the conditions during that time, and the emotionally charged stories allow the readers to more easily connect with the characters, which leads them to better understand the movement and topic than with Hidden Figures. Not only was The Help more relatable through emotion, but also listed some very important figures in history.

Aibileen’s description of Jackson’s environment was important to understand how crowded and close the colored neighborhood was, small but many houses, many people, packed schools and busses, etc. In chapter 6, Aibileen says “He read this book called Invisible Man. When he done, he says he gone write down what it was like to be colored working for a white man in Mississippi," when talking to Skeeter. This shows us how colored men and women would feel like an “Invisible Man”, knowing this, you can understand the rest of the maid’s stories. In chapter 1, Hilly informs the bridge club, "A bill that requires every white home to have a separate bathroom for the colored help.

“Help people even when you know they can’t help you back”.  The Help written by american  author  Kathryn Stockett was published in the early 2000’s.  Set in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962, Stockett’s first novel is narrated by three women: Aibileen and Minny are both black maids working for ladies from the cream of white society, while Miss Skeeter is the 23-year-old daughter of one of those pillars of the community. Aibileen has raised 17 white children, but her own son has been recently killed in an accident at a lumber yard; Minny is forever losing jobs because she talks back to her employers; and Miss Skeeter, so called because she looked like a mosquito when she was born, is ungainly