The Help

[firecat]

I haven't seen the movie or read the book The Help but I've seen a lot of people talking about how it's not an accurate description of the time period and place it depicts or of the relationships between white families and black domestic workers in the 1960s US South. Here are a couple of articles discussing the subject.

• "An Open Statement to the Fans of The Help" by the Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH). Includes a reading list.
• "I Was 'The Help'" by Helena (depicts the author's experiences as a personal assistant to a wealthy woman in 2004)

Comments

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I am still searching in vain for reviews of either the book or the movie by people who were born in 1950 or before, even if they didn't live in the South. (Roger Ebert reviewed it, but he addressed mainly the quality of the film as a film.) All the links here show me women who probably were not alive at the time. No disrespect meant to them or their opinions, but I really want to know what people who actually had some experience of living during that time think.

[firecat]

If you find any I hope you will post them!

[treecat]

Your next bet would be finding people who were kids, but in that area. They would have some stories about it, from their parents as well as what they remember personally.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Not quite that, but you might want to read this (http://mjlayman.livejournal.com/615469.html) -- I got it from the library.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Obama took The Warmth of Other Suns on vacation.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Again, I don't know about reviews, but the new book The Last Resort: Taking the Mississippi Cure (http://www.amazon.com/Last-Resort-Taking-Mississippi-Biography/dp/1604739770/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314580920&sr=1-1) by Norma Watkins is a memoir of her life in the 1950s & 60s. She's white, but sees all the segregation and damage done to blacks and eventually leaves her family so she won't be participating.