Near the end of the book, Stockett mentions the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. But the novel ends with the hope for progress. Stockett focuses on one particular low point in the civil rights movement: the violent murder of the black activist Medgar Evers by a pro-segregation white man. In the early sixties, if a black man used a white bathroom, he could expect white men to burn down his house, beat him, or even lynch him. However, the majority of white Southerners opposed these changes, with some people even resorting to violence to maintain segregation. The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we dont.

Civil rights protestors sought to dissolve “the color line,” a metaphor for segregation, by integrating the facilities and institutions that were kept separate. White and black people had separate hospitals, bathrooms, schools, and even graveyards. After graduating from the University of Alabama, she moved to New York City, where she worked in magazine publishing and marketing. Set in Jackson, Mississippi during the early days of the 1960s civil rights movement, The Help portrays social life under the Jim Crow-era laws that enforced racial segregation. Kathryn Stockett was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi.

The help by kathryn stockett