Who has read The Help?

[Frances]

Just finished reading it myself.

To me, Jackson, Mississippi was a lot like Montgomery, Alabama in the 60s.

[trof]

1. And a lot like B'ham.

Listened to the audio book a few months ago and saw the movie.
We were middle class and had a maid.
All my friends' families had maids too.
They helped raise us kids.
Had the same authority as your mom, pretty much.

[Syrinx]

2. I remember my uncle had a black maid in the seventies

He didn't have a whole helluva lot of money either. He was a manager of some sort at a retail outlet. Not a big-bucks kind of job, but he could afford to have this black lady over everyday and pick up after his kids, and cook meals, and what-not. I have no idea what he paid her, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't enough. He was also a militant racist. No, not a Klan member, but he was pretty militant in his rhetoric. I was puzzled by why my uncle hated black people so much, yet he let a black lady take care of his children, and cook his meals. I missed going to segregated schools by a few years, and never really understood why I was supposed to hate black people. And I "sold out" at the age of six or seven, when my uncle paid me fifty cents at a time to say "nigger." I never understood why he was amused by that, but fifty cents could buy quite a bit of candy in those days.

[Frances]

3. Just before I left Alabama in 1967

someone had a going-away party for me on a large farm outside Montgomery. 3 of the women in that rural area were discussing what they would pay their maids. All agreed on $3/day. At that time, the minimum wage was over $1/hour, and a typical maid in that area worked from about 7:30 am until about 5 pm. But in that area at that time no one would hire black women as sales clerks or other blue collar jobs, so the black women took what work they could find just like the black women in The Help.

I still remember how shocked I was to see a black person checking out groceries at the local grocery store in the early 70s.

[trof]

4. The maid's 'percs'

I have no idea what our maid was paid.
She 'only' had to work half a day on Saturdays.
woohoo
:eyes:

She did get 'car-fare' (bus) over and above her pay.
That was a common practice.

She also had 'totin' privileges, not so common.
That meant she could take 'approved' left-overs home to her family.

It was a hard life and they were uncomplaining.

[fegi052li]

5. Very interesting