Racism In The Help And Coming Of Age In Mississippi, By Tate Taylor

Racism: The Intertwined Theme
According to a 2008 Gallup poll, most African Americans residing in America strongly believe racism is still a major factor embedded in their lives. Racism is defined as prejudice or discrimination directed against individuals of a different race based on such a belief. Though racism is not extinct and plays a role in today’s society, it was much more severe and widely accepted during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's. Anne Moody's book, Coming of Age in Mississippi, and Tate Taylor's film, The Help, based on the book written by Kathryn Stockett's, are both novels that expose the severity of racism and prejudice during the Civil Rights Movement. Though both novels take place during the same time period,
The most prominent and significant similarity of both novels is the idea of racism. Entwined throughout the books, the theme of racism is the backbone, which reflects the hardships African Americans experienced throughout the 1960’s. In the novel, Coming of Age in Mississippi, the main character, Anne, and her family, are African Americans. Along with the other "black" plantation workers, her and her family live in shacks without electricity or indoor plumbing. On the contrary, the "white" family's houses have electricity and indoor plumbing. This is overbearing discrimination as the black families work unbelievably hard on the plantation just to live unsanitary while the white families live comfortably through them. In the novel The Help, the main character, Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, asks different black maids, referred to as the “help”, domestic questions. She discovers her friend’s attitudes about the "help” and her friend, Hilly Holbrook, made something for her home called a "Home Help Sanitation Initiative". This initiative is for separate bathrooms for black maids because they carry different diseases. Hilly's thoughts reflect extremely racial judgments. Treating the African Americans as though they are not people, she often depicts them as dogs or wild animals that are bringing diseases and infections into her house. Both novels involve the public having an opinion that African
It is extremely relevant in both novels that there is prejudice of whites against blacks, but, Coming of Age in Mississippi exemplifies other types of prejudice. In The Help there is mainly prejudice against whites and blacks, while the African Americans discussed are "dark" skinned. In Coming of Age in Mississippi there is also prejudice against lighter skinned blacks, darker skinned blacks, and also wealthy towards the poor. Anne experiences each type of prejudice which angers her and drives her to be a part of the Civil Rights Movement. Anne exemplifies, "They were Negroes and we were also Negroes. I just didn't see Negroes hating each other so much." Anne refers to the light skinned Raymond family who looks down upon Anne and her family. Anne is partially confused that lighter-skinned black people could possibly diminish black people because she views them as the same. To Anne, African Americans are black people, no matter how light or dark the individual may be. But, during this time, lighter-skinned African Americans obtained a higher social status than dark skinned people. Associated similarly, individuals with a higher level of wealth also had a higher social status than poor people. Skin color prejudice plays a significant role in Coming of Age in Mississippi and The