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Arts & Entertainment

Don't Forget African-Americans Employ 'The Help,' Too

The book and film 'The Help' has generated numerous debates about the depictions of blacks in the film. Let's not forget that many African-Americans employ "help" today.

I am one of thousands of filmgoers who recently traveled to the movie  theater to see the film "The Help."

The film stars Academy Award nominee Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone, along with scene-stealing performances from Sissy Spacek and Cicely Tyson, (who will forever be remembered for her role as  'Miss Jane Pittman').

The movie has generated mixed reaction from black and white film  audiences and, especially, black critics. The book has as well. Some have criticized both the film and the book as stereotyping African-American women in general and maids, or the "help," in particular. Since I go to the movies and to the theater to be entertained, this film was quite entertaining to me.

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I recall that for a short time when I was a teenager, my own mother worked  for a white family in southwest Atlanta. She would go there once a week to iron. She never cooked for them or cared for their children. She simply ironed and so I figure that she can be considered as that family's "help."

Prior to the 1960s—before blacks and womens' activists took to demanding equal rights—many black women, indeed, worked as domestics for white families. Some of these women cleaned homes, cooked meals and cared for the children of their white employers. Some feel that, at the time, some of the employers rarely extended common courtesies to their employees.

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Because of the book and film, there's lots of discussion about white women and their relationship to domestic workers. I am curious about the generation of  black women whose mothers, aunts, grandmothers, etc., were domestics, but now have maids and helpers now working for them.

A diligent, hard-working young woman comes to my home once a month to help with the cleaning that I am unable to do. Her name is Leebra. I met her through my friend Gwen who met her through another friend. Gwen says that Libra reminds her of her late aunt Eloise who also worked as a domestic. She says that in spite of going through some tough times, Leebra is dependable and loyal.

When I asked several of my black friends and acquaintances if they had "help," I was surprised to learn that many of them have utilized domestics for several years. Most of them employ helpers who also work for their friends. Several are happy to recommend their employees. I notice that they don't call the domestic workers, "maids." Like me, they refer to them as "the lady who cleans for me" or the "woman who helps me."

Most of these employees are not like the ones in "The Help" because they have not or do not raise their employer's children. Although some white families viewed domestics as members of the family, this was not displayed in "The Help." The various white characters treated them as second class citizens.

I believe black employers of today, the descendants of those who were once domestics, are quite different from most whites who employed their relatives. Most are grateful to have help and treat them more like an extended member of the family.

While we debate the relevance of the movie and film,"The Help," I think that it's interesting that working black women, even middle-class ones and retirees, also employ "the help."

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