My grandma had a black maid in the 50s in the south

And the movie showed that, too. In addition to Jessica Chastain's character, some of the maids told stories to Skeeter about the good people they worked for. If you'll pardon the expression, the situation wasn't completely black and white.

"...black women were often grateful to work as maids..."
Yes, I'm sure they had no other ambitions and that the whole race equality thing was a bit exaggerated.

"We fell in love. I fell in love - she just stood there." / http://twitter.com/Marielind

I didn't have the impression from the story that the author was trying to convey that all black women hated their jobs and were treated badly. I agree with Mega-Ennui that the film showed that some of these women had good relationships with their employers. What I perceived of the most severe criticism of the society of the time and the treatment of "The Help" was that it was the social norm (behavior accepted and expected generally in the society, and by society, I mean here the upper crust in Jackson) to treat black persons as inferiors by various means - the outside toilets being the most prominent example. That is why Hilly was SO adamant about publishing that diatribe about the health risks of allowing blacks anywhere near your facilities (or letting them use dishes and silverware). One means of upholding that hierarchy of blacks as inferior was to perpetuate an obviously fictional set of beliefs about blacks getting different diseases and the danger of letting them use the bathrooms. Another aspect was that it was the white women in the upper crust who were bullied into toeing the line in this respect. This was shown quite clearly at least twice - Skeeter's mother was pressured by her social superiors to fire the woman who had worked for her family for 30 years and raised her children. It was clear she did not want to, but she felt no choice but to comply with the white woman's insistance that she do something about their behavior. Also Hilly forced Abailine's employer into firing her. In both cases, the white women were terrified of refusing to comply with the social norm that white superiority (and the rules that must be enforced against blacks to perpetuate that notion of superiority) must be upheld at all costs. If they had refused to go along with the person setting the standard, then they would have faced ostracism (note how Skeeter was immediately and in no uncertain terms dumped by her boyfriend when he found out she wrote the book). So even the white women were kept in line and forced to act in ways they did not wish to.

I don't think anyone watched the film and assumed that they were ALL mistreated Mega-Ennui



Ashmi any question

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If I were you, I woundnt even talk about that. It's a shame to say that your family used to have black maids(slaves). It's like a Nazi who says: My parents turned in some jews in WW2 but I'm sure their death wasn't painful.

I know it may sound a bit hyperbolic because death differs from pain (altho' some Masters used to hit to death their slaves, right?) but it's the same philosophy, concidering the *beep* situation those people were facing.

I'm a non American white guy btw.

Thanks for your post. I grew up in middle Georgia in the 1950's and '60's. The situation was far more complex than presented in the book and in the film. Remember, the author did not live through this time, she wasn't born until 1969.

The film presented both blacks and whites in a two dimensional stereotypical way. In so doing, it is no more accurate in its depiction of the relationship between whites and the blacks who worked for them as was the relationship between Scarlett O'Hara and Mammy.

"To Kill a Mockingbird" is a far better film. Also, the wonderful and underrated TV series "I'll Flay Away" (filmed right up the road from where I live) gives a much more nuanced and accurate portrayal of the relationship between white families and the maids who worked for them.

My family hired Mrs. Johnson as a maid in 1951, when I was six months old. She worked for my family for nearly 40 years. She was my other mother. She and her husband were childless, which spared me later from feeling she spent the day with me instead of her children. I visited her home almost every week before I started school and played with the neighborhood kids. I was taught by my parents to treat everyone with respect.

Maybe my family and our friends were more genteel. We would have been horrified by how the maids were treated in the film. I had never heard of separate bathrooms until I saw this movie. Mrs. Johnson used our dinnerware. She was welcome at our table.

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