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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The Help

I just finished reading the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett and I'm surprised at the memories it brings back. Mississippi in the '60's  may have been more racist than Ohio, but I think that's because we were a little more subtle. The same feelings of superiority and the unkind, belittling comments occurred here too.

As I get older, I realzie there are so many positive changes our children and grandchildren don't recognize. They don't know how far we've come, they don't really understand where we started. The Help tells the story of the plight of black people in the '60's. Every day whites and every day blacks living their lives in Mississippi and what it was like to be black in America fifty years ago. For some of us, the book brings back memories, for out children and grandchildren it is the story of their parents, grandparents and great grandparents.

It's a good book, a good read, a history lesson and a reminder of the amazing courage of an oppressed segment of our population. The legacy of Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers and the Freedom Riders is fairly well known, but this book also reminds us that the maids, the laborers, the every day folks, displayed courage, dignity and honor to claim their rights. If you are under 40, this is a must read. . .