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

[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.