In fact, The Help narrates the plots of black maids serve for the white family. The plot is about a few black maids mainly by Aibilee and Minny who are under the enlightenment of the white lady Skeeter. They expose social reality together through writing the book between black maids and the white employers in Jackson Township, Mississippi. The novel mainly includes the discrimination towards black maids and the vanity of the white housewives, such as Minny who makes the special pie just for the revenge of her white housewife, Hilly who deliberately dismisses her. Skeetter’s black mother’s is driven away by the owner of her own half-breed daughter.  

This book conveys black women craving for freedom and equality which stimulates the great social repercussions. It becomes a symbol of black women on the path of conscious awakening. There is no doubt that in conflicts and social instability, it is not only a way of redemption, but also a battle between fear and courage.

II. Black Feminism

2.1 Emergence of Black Feminism

Afro-American women’s history is tough and tragic. Since 19th century, they have been forced to be sold as slaves to the American continent, suffering racial oppression and humiliation. Although the shackles of black slavery were liberated and removed in the middle of the 19th century, they still have less right in the political, economic and social fields.

American slavery was known for its brutality, for the black were captured and taken away from their homes forcibly. The white owners kept the economic interests and treated the black as their belongings. They always showed their slaves at the auction, treating them just as low as animals. They treated black men and black women in the same manner. The slaves were used to examine randomly and checked unceremoniously, the white owners often judged their maids worth by their fertility. The advent of a new baby would increase the wealth of the slave holder. The white often sold black children to make a profit, or a few years later, being a part of their labor force when the child grows up. Black women were busy with planting cotton, rice and tobacco in the fields all day long. If the supervisors found them not working hard enough, they would suffer the same punishment as others. After a day’s work, black women had to prepare dinner and the second day’s breakfast for their families. They also had to wash and sew clothes, and clean the room before they went to bed. Excepting these burdens, black women also must bear the sexual abuse of their white masters, white sons, and supervisors. Many black women have been subjected to sexual assault by white men before them being an adult. If they refused to yield, they would suffer a severe punishment, or even torture.

  About 90% of black women lived in the southern United States, and more than 50% black women lived in the countryside at the end of the World War I. Black women often  played the role as mothers, wives, and laborers had not changed remarkably, and they still had to solve economic problems. White employers used a variety of measures; they often deliberately made the harvest crop not up to the standard weight so that the black families had always been in debt.