The Help Movie Vs Book

Ida Wells-Barnett, writer of Lynch Law in America, offers an eye-opening article that reflects back on the negative experiences the black community suffered just because of their racial background. Wells-Barnett first starts by describing that there is an “unwritten law” that justifies every action against blacks because it proclaimed that for certain crimes no white person should be compelled to charge an assault under oath. This unwritten law, according to her, was advocated by “red-shirt” groups whose purpose, initially, was to “intimidate, suppress, and nullify the negro’s right to vote” (71). Then, she describes that in order to accomplish the main purpose, it was necessary to “beat, exile, and kill negros” (71). Therefore, the lynchings began in the South; and, on average, two hundred women and men were put to death annually. These lynchings were extremely publicized; the lynching mobs cut off extremities.

Slavery and Mississippi during the nineteenth and twentieth century went hand and hand. Along with this slavery came prejudice, bigots, racism, and perhaps the worst of all; lynching. Lynching was commonly accepted in the south during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Governors approved, sheriffs turned a blind eye, southern blacks accepted, and for the most part the rest of the United States ignored it. Lynching in the south was seen as check on society, not a criminal offence it helped keep 'those niggahs in order.' However, there was one lynching in the summer of 1955 that the nation could not ignore; the press, NAACP, and Mrs. (Mammie) Till Bradley made sure of this. The lynching sent shock waves through most of the

Plight of the African Americans After Reconstruction in Neil McMillen’s Book, Dark Journey: Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim Crow

Crossroads at Clarksdale by Francoise Hamlin sketches the struggle to freedom for African Americans in Clarksdale, MS. Hamlin shares the stories of two successful African Americans at the forefront and how they work to become leaders in Clarksdale. From the 1950’s to the 1970s, college students, numerous organizations, and campaigns for social transformation fought hard battles for social and economic justice. In an attempt to withstand the social prejudices that were highly advocated in Mississippi African Americans were targeted for violence and degraded by Jim Crow laws that were inhumane and restricted their rights. Despite the poverty and inequality African Americans had to undergo, their slow struggle to freedom in Clarksdale was accompanied by accomplishments and relentless efforts for civil rights. Hamlin articulates in detail the situations that were occurring in the south, how the citizens were affected by the situations, and their responses to these situations.

Let’s examine the reality of violence during the Reconstruction Era. In the document, “Southern Horrors- Lynch Laws in All its Phases, by Ida B. Wells-Barnett we see countless examples of the continued violence in the south against African-Americans. The slogan “This is white man’s country and the

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the sleepy, southern Maycomb, Alabama. A small town in the grips of 1930’s depression, To Kill a Mockingbird spans a period of three years following young Scout Finch and her family through their experiences with racism and prejudice. Jim Crow laws were a series of ordinances the prevented equal treatment of African-Americans. Beginning with the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and remaining in effect until the Civil rights movement of the 1950s, Jim Crow laws governed where colored people could live, work, eat, enter and exit a building, and use public services. “Jim Crow laws grew from theories of white supremacy and were a reaction to Reconstruction,” explained Andrew Costly of the Constitutional Rights Foundation, “In the depression-racked 1890s, racism appealed to whites who feared losing their jobs to blacks.” Ensuring that freed slaves remained weak and inferior, Jim Crow laws revoked black freedom’s and crippled their rights. And while not explicitly stated, evidence of Jim Crow Laws appears methodically throughout To Kill a Mockingbird. Strongly influenced by elements of racism, the story paints a vivid picture of life in the era of Jim Crow, for both colored and white.

The story occurs in the early 1900s, between the Great Depression and World War II, and it set in the deep South where “Jim Crow Laws” is in place. Though slavery was abolished, racism is present

The setting for the novel is a fictitious town called Maycomb. This town is situated in Alabama, south USA. The racial prejudice shown in the novel has a lot to do with the town being situated in the southern United States. This is because there was a lot of racism in the southern United States in the 1930's. This racism mainly originated from the civil war, which lasted from 1875 to 1883. The northern, more

     Growing up in the north, and being white, we were taught in school what the conditions were in the south and all over America for blacks. I never really thought much of it, like many kids my age, because it never affected me. I’ve been told by teachers, speakers, and whoever else my school would bring in to tell us about what it was like for blacks back in the 1940’s and the 1950’s. After I read the book, Coming of Age in Mississippi, I realized what it was really like

Coming of Age in Mississippi by Ann Moody is detailing the experiences while growing up as a black woman in rural Mississippi before and during the civil rights movement. The memoir covers Ann’s life from her childhood to adulthood. It provides a fascinating glance at the lives of Negroes working in the plantations several years before the start of civil rights movement. It clearly outlines the poverty, desperation and suffering experienced by blacks who worked for the whites in their homes (Moody 2011, 15). The book presents a unique approach employed by the author when confronted with the issues of racism and most of all, dealing with the rights of African- American people. This paper will be based on the

To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee's only novel, is a fictional story of racial oppression, set in Maycomb, A.L. in 1925 to 1935, loosely based on the events of the Scottsboro trials. Unlike the story however, the racial discrimination and oppression in the novel very accurately portrays what it was like in the 1920's and 1930's in the south. Tom Robinson, the black man accused of raping a poor low class white girl of 19, never stood a chance of getting a fair trial. This can be supported by giving examples of racially discriminatory and

There are many differences between the book, The Help, and the movie, “The Help”. Although the director did manage to keep some of plot the same, there are still not as many similarities as differences in the book and movie.

For example, “The Treski’s house” which is where Evan and Jessie live, the Town Square, and their neighborhood. I think the setting really does influence the plot because they needed a suitable and ideal environment to sell lemonade. For example, if they lived in a mansion, not much people would want to pass by to buy lemonade, greatly influencing the story. However, if you have a really hot town where there are many houses and people walking by, the chances of selling lemonade are greater and adds more suspense to the story.

The film “The Help” (2011), is a story based on the daily lives of prominent white women and the relationships with their African-American housemaids in Jackson, Mississippi, during the 1960s Civil Rights movement in America. A well-to-do white woman and central character in this film, Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, aspires to be a journalist and decides to write and publish an exposé of the stories of the housemaids in Jackson to achieve this goal, however, only two maids, Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson are willing to discuss their experiences with her. The other maid’s in Jackson resist telling Skeeter their stories, fearing the punishments they would endure if the authorities were to find out. In spite of this, after the malicious arrest of one of their befriended maids, all of the maids begin to share their experiences, which consist of racial hostility and being treated as intrinsically subservient to white people. The story Skeeter publishes entitled The Help, creates a disturbance among the white families in Jackson, by exposing the racism the maids are faced with, forcing the white families to reflect upon how they have treated their maids. The storyline represented in The Help exhibits examples of the primordial approach to race and ethnicity, as well as numerous sociological concepts including segregation, internalized oppression, and white privilege, which will be exemplified in this paper in order to uncover the race relations evident within this film.

During the 1960’s of American history violent acts were aimed at African Americans in the name of racism and segregation. In a case such as this one, many would seek refuge from the government, but to little surprise, cries for refuge went unanswered. Making matters worse was the fact that the Government allowed segregation to continue due to legal documents in many southern states. Acceptable forms of oppression were separated into four categories: racial segregation; voter suppression, in southern states; denial of economic opportunity; private acts of violence aimed at African Americans. At this time, many civil rights laws were