I was born 1911, Chickasaw County, Piedmont Plantation.
[woman 1] And did you know, as a girl growing up,
that one day you'd be a maid?
Yes, ma'am, I did.
[woman 1] And you knew that because...
My mama was a maid. My grandmama was a house slave.
[woman 1] House... slave.
Do you ever dream of being something else?
What does it feel like to raise a white child
when your own child's at home being looked after by somebody else?
It feel...
[woman 2] I done raised 77 kids in my life.
Looking after white babies, that's what! do.
[girl] Aibee, Aibee.
- Hi! - Aibee!
I know how to get them babies to sleep, stop crying and go in the toilet bowl
before their mamas even get out of bed in the morning.
[girl giggiiiig]
Babies like fat.
They like big fat legs, too. That I know.
You is kind, you is smart...
...you is important.
- You is smart... - Smart...
- ...you is kind... - ...you is kind...
- ...you is important. - ...you is important.
That's so good.
[laughing]
That's so good.
I work for the Leefofts from eight to four, six days a week.
I make .95 cent an hour. That comes to $182 every month.
I do all the cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing and grocery shopping.
But mostly I take care of Baby Girl.
And, Lord, I worry she gonna be fat.
Mae Mobley.
Ain't going to be no beauty queen either.
Aibileen, bridge club is in an hour. Did you finish the chicken salad?
- Yes. - Oh, and Hilly's devilled eggs.
- No paprika. - Mm-hm.
Does this dress look homemade?
I reckon when you finish it won't.
Well, thank you.
Miss Leefolt still don't pick Baby Girl up but once a day.
The birthing blues got hold of Miss Leefolt pretty hard.
I done seen it happen plenty of times,
once babies start having their own babies.
[western music]
[Aibileen] And the young white ladies of Jackson...
...oh Lord, was they having babies.
But not Miss Skeeter.
No man and no babies.
- Morning. - Hi.
- My name is Eugenia Phelan, and... - Come on.
[indistinct chatter]
[phone ringing]
[typewriter clacking]
Eugenia Phelan, Mr Blackly.
Shut the damn door.
I guarantee you, one day they're going to figure out cigarettes will kill you.
OK, Miss Phelan, let's see what you got.
Murrah High: editor.
Ole Miss Rebel Rouser: editor.
Double major.
Junior League: editor.
- Damn, girl, don't you have fun? - Is that important?
- Do you have any references? - Yes.
Right here.
[exclaims] This...
This is a rejection letter.
Not exactly. See, Miss Stein thought...
Stein?
Elaine Stein, from Harper and Row Publishing in New York.
Oh, Lord.
I'm gonna be a serious writer, Mr Blackly.
I applied for a job, but Mrs Stein thought...
She said no. [chuckling]
Well, until I gain some experience.
See? Says right there.
"Great potential. Gain some experience and please apply again."
Oh, Christ. I guess you'll do. Do you clean?
- I'm sorry. Clean? - Clean.
Grab that basket.
Miss Myrna has gone shit-house crazy on us.
She drunk hairspray or something.
I want you to read her past columns.
Then read these letters and you answer them just like she would.
Nobody is gonna know the damn difference.
You know who Miss Myrna is?
I read her articles all the time.
Articles? Miss Phelan, it's a cleaning advice column.
Eight bucks a week. Copy is due on Thursday.
- [phone buzzing] - Hello?
Lou Ann, honey, I can't talk right now. I'm at work.
What? Shut that goddamn door.
Mama, we're late for bridge!
[Aibileen] Miss Hilly was the first of the babies to have a baby.
...three...
And it must have come out of her like the 11th Commandment,
'cause once Miss Hilly had a baby
every girl at the bridge table had to have one, too.
Minny, go get Mama!
Missus Walters, you need help coming down?
- I'm down. - Ooh.
- I been down. - Give me a head attack.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, Missus Walters. Here, let me help you.
Take that off. it's 98 degrees out there.
- Is it? - Yes, ma'am.
Well, let's put my coat on then.
- Come on, Minny. - All right.
- Here's your pocketbook. - Thank you.
OK, let me get the pie.
Hold on, Missus Walters. Hold on.
Once Missus Walters' arteries went hard, Miss Hilly moved her into her house
and fired the maid she had to make room for Minny too.
See, Minny about the best cook in Mississippi,
and Miss Hilly wanted her.
I lost my own boy Treelore, four years ago.
After thal, I just didn't want to live no more.
It took God and Minny to get me through it.
Minny my best friend. Old lady like me lucky to have her.
After my boy died, a bitter seed was planted inside of me.
And I just didn't feel so accepting anymore.
No.
You drunk up two glasses of grape juice. I know you got to tee-tee.
No.
I'll give you two cookies if you go.
[splashing]
Mae Mobley, you're going!
[Miss Leefolt] Aibileen, the girls are pulling up, and the table isn't set.
Mae Mobley go, Mama.
Get in your room right now.
Set out the dessert forks. Please.
[music on radio]
Put Mama in a chair before she breaks a hip.
[scoffs] I'm not deaf yet, Hilly.
- Hey, girls. - [all greeting]
Oh. Minny. Will you see if Aibileen has some of that ambrosia?
Hold on. Those are Miss Hilly's.
[groaning] She looks like the winning horse at the Kentucky Derby.
- [chuckling] - All flowers and bows.
Got to have paprika on them.
Ooh.
Forgive me, Lord, but I'm gonna have to kill that woman, Aibileen.
Now she gone to putting pencil marks on my toilet paper.
[laughing]
- Did she? - Mm-hm.
But I carry paper in from my own damn house. That fool don't know.
Miss Leefolt got so much hairspray on her head
she gonna blow us all up if she light a cigarette.
And you know she will!
- You got some ambrosia? - You know I do.
All right, I'll be back.
Minny, cord, girl.
Shut up.
[organ music on TV]
[male announcer] The Guiding Light.
Hi, Missus Walters.
I'm watching my story.
OK.
Isn't it gorgeous?
Sorry I'm late.
[all gasping, shrieking]
You're home!
I missed you all, too.
Well, if it isn't "Long Haul" Skeeter.
We didn't ever think you'd leave Ole Miss.
Well, it does take four years, Jolene.
I've got a great summer planned for you.
Great.
I went ahead and I picked up my black dress from the cleaners this morning.
What?
- About supper club tonight. - What?
[groaning]
Honey, Stuart had to cancel.
- Again? - [Missus Walters cackling]
He got held up on the oil rig, Skeeter.
It's... it's offshore.
I'm starting to think this Stuart is a figment of your imagination,
so just forget it.
I'm just gonna go get a plate.
- Shh! - Sorry!
[music on radio]
I got a job today.
At The Jackson Journal.
They'd be a fool not to hire you.
- [all giggling] - To Skeeter and her job.
Last stop till marriage.
Oh!
- it's for the Miss Myrna column. - Hmm.
Elizabeth, can I talk to Aibileen?
Just to help me with some of the letters till I get a knack for it.
My Aibileen?
Why can't you just get Constantine to help?
- Constantine quit us. - [all gasping]
Oh, my gosh. Skeeter, I'm so sorry.
Anyway, I just, um... I don't really know how to answer these letters.
Well, I mean, as long as it doesn't interfere with her work.
I don't see why not.
[phone ringing]
Leefolt residence.
Hello. Is Elizabeth in?
She having bridge club right now. May I take a message?
Yes, please tell her Celia Foote called again.
I'll call back tomorrow.
- Yes, ma'am. - Uh...
Miss?
I'm looking for some help at my house. Do you know any maids looking?
No, ma'am.
OK it's Celia Foote.
Emerson-684. [giggling] Bye now.
[gasping, giggling]
You scared the daylights out of me!
It is lunchtime, and I am suddenly hungry.
[Celia giggling, indistinct chatter]
Honestly!
[snoring]
[gasping] Oh.
I'm still working on it, Aibileen.
Who was that on the phone?
Miss Celia Foote called again.
I've never called her back, Hilly.
She can't take a hint, can she?
Who's Celia Foote?
That tacky girl Johnny married.
From Sugar Ditch.
It could have been you, Hilly.
And live 30 minutes outside of town? No, thank you. [chuckling]
Anyway, I ran into her at the beauty parlour, and she had the nerve to ask
if she could help with the Children's Benefit Ball.
Aren't we taking non-members? The benefit has gotten so big.
Yes, but we're not telling her.
[all giggling]
Thank you, Aibileen.
[groaning]
Hilly, I wish you'd just go use the bathroom.
I'm fine.
[Missus Walters] Oh, she's just upset
because the nigra uses the guest bath and so do we.
Aibileen, go check on Mae Mobley.
Yes, ma'am.
Just go use mine and Raleigh's.
If Aibileen uses the guest bath, I'm sure she uses yours, too.
She does not.
Wouldn't you rather them take their business outside?
Have you all seen the cover of Life this week?
Jackie's never looked more regal.
Tell Raleigh every penny he spends on a coloured's bathroom
he'll get back in spades when y'all sell.
[makes disgusted noise]
it's just plain dangerous. They carry different diseases than we do.
Pass.
That's why I've drafted the Home Health Sanitation Initiative.
The what?
[Hilly] A disease-preventative bill
that requires every white home to have a separate bathroom for the coloured help.
It's been endorsed by the White Citizens' Council.
Maybe we should just build you a bathroom outside, Hilly.
You ought not to joke about the coloured situation.
I'll do whatever it takes to protect our children.
Your lead, Elizabeth.
[sermon on radio]
[plates clinking]
- Aibileen? - Yes, ma'am.
Do you think you'd be willing to help me with those Miss Myrna letters?
Miss Myrna get it wrong a lot of times. Be good to get it right.
[both chuckling]
Thank you, Aibileen.
All that talk in there today...
Hilly'S talk?
I'm sorry you had to hear that.
[sermon continues]
Is that Preacher Green's sermon?
Yes, ma'am, it is.
That reminds me so much of my maid, Constantine.
I know Constantine. We're in church circle together.
Have you seen her lately?
No, ma'am.
Did you know that she had quit us?
Quit?
I got home from school a week ago, and my mama told me she had quit.
Back in March, she went to live with her daughter, Rachel. In Chicago.
Did you hear that? Do you have her phone number?
There you are, Skeeter.
Hilly wants you to put her initiative in the League newsletter.
OK.
I'll be back tomorrow, Aibileen,
to get started on those Miss Myrna letters.
Y'all make it quick.
Tomorrow is silver-polishing day. OK?
Hi, Jameso.
How you, Miss Eugenia?
Mama?
Mama.
[woman] Yoo-hoo.
Mama?
[woman] Back here, honey!
[music on radio]
Is this a little too young?
That's a little too everything.
Oh, hell. You're right.
OK.
Much better.
Your daddy bought me this dress in '58.
Mama, I want to ask you about Constantine.
Right after Ole Miss won the Sugar Bowl. Come on. You try it on.
What really happened?
Skeeter, your mother is sick. She wants to see you in this dress.
Unzip me.
Come on.
Did I tell you Fanny Peatrow got engaged?
After she got that teller job,
her mother said she was swimming in proposals.
Good for fair Fanny Peatrow.
Eugenia, your eggs are dying. Would it kill you to go on a date?
Just show a little gumption. Careful now, careful.
Oh, now look at this.
This dress is just precious on you.
Just take it in a little here. Little there.
- Get your hair fixed. - I got a job today.
Where?
Writing for The Jackson Journal.
- [pulling up zipper] - Great.
You can write my obituary!
"Charlotte Phelan, dead! Her daughter, still single."
Mother, would it really be so bad if I never met a husband?
Skeeter! Skeeter!
[shouting] Skeeter!
I need to ask you something.
I read the other day about how some girls get unbalanced.
They start thinking these...
...unnatural thoughts.
Are you...
Do you, uh... find men attractive?
Are you having unnatural thoughts about girls or women?
Oh, my God.
Because this article says there's a cure. A special root tea!
Mother, I want to be with girls as much as you want to be with Jameso.
- Eugenia! - Unless, of course, you do!
Oh!
[exclaiming]
Carlton's bringing Rebecca to dinner. Try to look presentable!
[laughing]
What the hell you know about cleaning a house, Skeeter?
It's a start, Carlton.
If you say so. I thought you wanted to write books.
Now, y'all leave Sister alone.
- I'm proud of you, sweetheart. - The irony of it all.
Giving advice on how to keep up a home when she doesn't even...
Oh, no, Pascagoula. You couldn't have known this, but I'm allergic to almonds.
Sorry, Miss Eugenia, I'll get you another one.
You know, last time I had an almond, I stopped liking men.
Oh, my Lord.
Oh, no, Rebecca, it's fine. There's a special root tea for that now.
You have pushed it, young lady.
Daddy. What happened to Constantine?
Uh, well...
Constantine went to live in Chicago with her family.
People move on, Skeeter.
But I do wish that she'd stayed down here with us.
I don't believe you.
[sighing]
She would've written and told me.
Did you fire her?
We were just a job to her, honey. With them, it's all about money.
You'll understand that once you've hired help of your own.
- She raised me. - She did not!
She worked here for 29 years!
It was a coloured thing and I put it behind me!
Excuse me a moment, Rebecca. My daughter has upset my cancerous ulcers.
[door slamming]
[birds calling]
What you doing hiding out here, girl?
I couldn't tell Mama I didn't get asked to the dance.
It's all right.
Some things we just got to keep to ourselves, right?
All the boys say I'm ugly.
Mama was third runner-up in the Miss South Carolina pageant.
I wish you'd quit feeling sorry for yourself.
Now, that's ugly.
Ugly is something that goes up inside you.
It's mean and hurtful, like them boys.
Now you're not one of them, is you?
I didn't think so, honey.
Every day...
Every day you're not dead in the ground,
when you wake up in the morning, you're gonna have to make some decisions.
Got to ask yourself this question:
"Am I gonna believe
all them bad things them fools say about me today?"
You hear me?
"Am I gonna believe all them bad things
them fools say about me today?"
An right?
As for your mama, she didn't pick her life.
It picked her.
But you...
...you're gonna do something big with yours.
You wait and see.
Come on, go home with me till the dance over. Come on.
[chuckling]
Miss Stein, you said in your letter to write about what disturbs me,
particularly if it bothers no one else.
Come on.
And I understand that now.
Continue.
I'd like to write something from the point of view of the help.
These coloured women raise white children,
and in 20 years, those children become the boss.
We love them and they love us,
but they can't even use the toilets in our houses.
Don't you find that ironic, Miss Stein?
I'm listening.
Margaret Mitchell glorified the mammy figure,
- [sighing] - who dedicates her whole life
to a white family.
But nobody ever asked Mammy how she felt about it.
So, a side to this never before heard?
Yes.
'Cause nobody ever really talks about it down here.
Skeeter, who are you talking to in there?
Go away!
- Who was that? - My mother.
Look.
No maid in her right mind is ever gonna tell you the truth.
That's a hell of a risk to take in a place like Jackson, Mississippi.
I already have a maid.
Really? A Negro maid has already agreed to speak with you?
Yes, ma'am.
Well... I guess I can read what you come up With.
The book biZ could use a little rattling.
Thank you, Miss Stein.
Hey, hey, hey, all I'm saying
is that I'll let you know if it's even Worth pursuing.
And for God's sake, you're a 23-year-old educated woman.
Go get yourself an apartment.
[Skeeter] "Dear Miss Myrna:
When I'm chopping onions, how do I keep tears out of my eyes?"
[Aibileen] Shoot, that's easy. You tell her hold a matchstick between her teeth.
IS it lit?
No, ma'am.
[Hilly] Miss Leefolt said you could stall right away.
Build it just like the bathroom at my house. Let's see. [gasping]
- Right there. That will be nice. - Yes, ma'am.
[thunder rumbling]
My goodness, we got to run back to the car. Come on.
[Hilly] Bye, Skeeter!
Aibileen.
There's something else I want to write about. I would need your help.
I want to interview you about what it's like to work as a maid.
I'd like to do a book of interviews about working for white families.
And we could show what it's like to work for, say, Elizabeth?
You know what Miss Leefolt do to me if she knew I was telling stories on her?
I was thinking that we wouldn't have to tell her.
The other maids would have to keep it a secret, too.
Other maids?
I was hoping to get four or five.
[wind blowing]
To show what it's really like in Jackson.
[thunder rolling]
Show what y'all get paid, and the babies and the bathrooms.
The good and the bad.
[door slamming]
I bought you this damn house. I put up with your new clothes
and trips to New Orleans, but this takes the goddamn cake.
[Elizabeth] Hilly spoke to the surgeon general,
and she also said it'll add value to our home.
I guess Mae Mobley can go to college in that damn bathroom!
Hilly's covering the cost and said
you could just do William's taxes to pay her back.
We don't take orders from the Holbrooks.
Skeeter, how you doing?
Fine.
[Mae Mobley crying]
Fix me a sandwich, Aibileen.
Aibileen, Mae Mobley's crying her eyes out.
Skeeter.
I'm sorry, but I think it's best if you leave now.
Oh, sure, sure.
And this Miss Myrna thing isn't going to work out with Aibileen.
I'm sorry.
[thunder cracking]
[rain pouring]
You're making it hotter, flapping your arms like that, Minny.
Look how big the waves are, Minny.
[wind howling]
Let's go to the beach. Run, get Mr Walters!
He loves riding these waves!
You know we went to Biloxi on our honeymoon?
Yes, ma'am.
Are we in Biloxi, Minny?
No, ma'am. We ain't.
Why don't you sit down here for a spell.
And then me and you will go on down to the beach in a little while.
How about that?
[rattling]
Uh...
Miss Hilly?
Mm-hm?
Never mind.
You go on ahead and use the inside bath, Minny, it's all right.
Oh, for crying out loud, it's just a little rain.
She can go on up and get an umbrella from William's study.
I believe she was working for me before you dragged us both here.
[scoffing]
Daddy ruined you.
I'm just gonna get your tea.
[door handle rattling]
[Hilly] Minny?
Minny, are you in there?
Yes, ma'am.
And just what are you doing?
[flushing]
[shouting] Get off my toilet!
[pounding on door]
[exclaiming angrily]
You are fired, Minny Jackson!
Go on!
[Aibileen] Eighteen people died in Jackson that day.
Ten white and eight black.
- [Aibileen murmuring] - [Mae Mobley fretting]
God don't pay no mind to colour once He decide to set a tornado loose.
Aibee's here, honey.
Aibee's here.
[fly buzzing]
[footsteps approaching]
[Elizabeth] Hurry, Aibileen! Mae Mobley is up, and I'm off to the doctor!
That's Aibee's bathroom, Mama. Hey, Aibee!
No, no, no, honey. Promise me you won't go in there, OK?
- [flushing] - Yes, ma'am.
I'm right here, Baby Girl.
Isn't it so nice to have your own, Aibileen?
Yes, ma'am.
You're my real mama, Aibee.
[indistinct conversation]
- Is that Minny? - Minny.
Hey, Aibileen!
Hey, Minny!
Mm-hmm.
Where you headed?
I got some business to tend to, so y'all just mind your own.
All right, then. Well, bye!
Bye!
Now is she mad at me 'cause I got that job at Miss Hilly's?
Don't worry about her. She always mad about something.
[Skeeter] Aibileen.
Yes, ma'am. Everything OK?
Yeah, I just wanted to talk to you.
You got some more Miss Myrna questions for me?
Oh, no, I just wanted to talk about...
[horn honking]
We never finished our conversation at Elizabeth's.
About that book I want to write?
I'd really like to interview you, Aibileen.
I know it's scaly.
They set my cousin Shinelle's car on fire,
just 'cause she went down to the voting station.
A book like this has never been written before.
'Cause there's a reason.
I do this with you, I might as well burn my own house down.
I promise we'll be careful.
This already ain't careful, Miss Skeeter!
You not knowing that is what's scaring me the most.
Scare me more than Jim Crow.
All right.
Here's my phone number.
- My car's here. I could take you home. - No, ma'am.
[Aibileen] "No person shall require any white female
to nurse in wards or rooms in which Negro men are placed.
Books shall not be interchangeable between the white and coloured schools,
but shall continue to be used by the race first using them.
No coloured barber shall serve as a barber to white women or girls.
- Any person printing, publishing - [phone ringing]
or circulating written matter
urging for public acceptance or social equality between whites and Negroes
is subject to imprisonment. "
Hello?
[sighs] Aibileen, I done went and did it now.
I went to Miss Hilly's house this afternoon.
[Aibileen] Why Minny?
[Minny] She done told every white woman in town I'm a thief
Said I stole a candelabra.
But I got her back.
What you did?
[Minny] I can't tell you.
I ain't telling nobody.
[doorbell ringing]
I done something terrible awful to that woman,
and now she know what I done.
Sorry.
Minny.
She got what she deserved, Aibileen.
But now I ain't gonna never get no job again.
Oh, Lord, Leroy gonna kill me.
[sighing]
[door opening]
[footsteps]
Leroy?
[Leroy] What you done did now, Minny?
[clattering]
- [Leroy] Get off that phone, woman! - [Minny] Leroy please!
Minny? Minny!
[Minny] Please! Please!
[Leroy] Come here!
[man] Please open your Bibles to Exodus.
Chapter four, verse ten.
God, having asked Moses to free the Israelites...
[congregation murmuring]
...Moses answered:
"Oh, my Lord. I am not eloquent.
I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."
[murmuring in agreement]
See, courage isn't just about being brave.
[all] Amen!
Courage is daring to do what is right
in spite of the weakness of our flesh.
And God tells us,
commands us, compels us,
-to love. Amen? - Amen.
[piano begins playing]
[preacher] See, love,
as exemplified by our Lord Jesus Christ,
is to be prepared to put yourself in harm's way
-for your fellow man. - [all agreeing]
And by your fellow man, I mean your brother,
your sister, your neighbour, your friend and your enemy.
If you can love your enemy, you already have the victory.
Let's stand. All right.
[all singing up-tempo song]
[knocking at door]
Quick. Come quick.
I parked way up on State Street and caught a cab here, like you asked.
Got dropped two streets over?
Mm-hm.
I know now that it's against the law, what we're doing.
I've never seen you out of uniform before.
You look really nice.
Thank you.
I ain't never had no white person in my house before.
Miss Skeeter...
...what if you don't like what I got to say... about white people?
This isn't about me.
It doesn't matter how I feel.
You gonna have to change my name. Mine, Miss Leefolt's. Everybody.
Do you have other maids that are interested?
That gonna be hard.
What about Minny?
Minny got her some stories, sure enough,
but she ain't real keen on talking to white peoples right now.
What does it feel like to raise a white child
when your own child's at home being looked after by somebody else?
It feel...
Is that your son?
Yes, ma'am.
Can we move on to the next question?
You don't have to call me ma'am.
Not here.
Uh...
Do you want to talk about the bathroom?
Or anything about Miss Leefolt?
How she pays you, or has she ever yelled at you in front of Mae Mobley?
I thought I might write my stories down and read them to you.
Ain't no different than writing down my prayers.
OK.
Sure.
I don't say my prayers out loud.
I can get my point across a lot better writing them down.
I write an hour, sometimes two, every night.
And after my prayers last night, I got some stories down, too.
Go ahead.
"My first white baby to ever look after
was named Alton Carrington Speers.
It was 1925, and I had just turned 14.
I dropped out of school to help Mama with the bills.
Alton's mama died of lung disease."
[sighs]
I loved that baby. And he loved me.
That's when I learned I could make children feel proud of theyself.
Alton used to always be asking me how come I was black.
Just ate him up.
And one time, I told him it was because I drank too much coffee. [chortling]
You should have seen his face.
This was just so great.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate your doing this with me.
What changed your mind?
God.
And Miss Hilly Holbrook.
[radio on, indistinct]
Miss Hilly, I would like to ask you and Mr William something.
My twin boys graduated from high school, both on the honour roll.
Me and my husband, we been saving for years to send them to Tougaloo.
We're short about $75 on one of the tuitions.
Whoo! I am late. I gotta get going.
See you tonight, honey.
OK.
[door opens, closes]
Go on.
Well, now We're... [clears throat]
...faced with having to choose
which son can go if we don't come up with the money.
Would you consider giving us a Ioan?
I'd work every day for free till it was paid off.
That's not working for free. That's paying off a debt.
Yes, ma'am.
As a Christian, I'm doing you a favour.
See, God don't give charity to those who are well and able.
You need to come up with this money on your own. OK?
Yes, ma'am.
You'll thank me one day.
[Minny] You cooking white food, you taste it with a different spoon.
If they see you put the tasting spoon back in the pot,
might as well throw it all out.
Spoon, too.
And you use the same cup, same fork, same plate every day.
And you put it up in the cabinet.
You tell that white woman that's where you're gonna keep it from now on out.
Don't do it and see what happens.
Morning, ladies.
When you're sewing white folks coffee,
set it down in front of them.
Don't hand it to them, 'cause your hands can't touch.
And don't hit on they children.
White folks like to do they own spanking.
And last thing. Come here.
Look at me.
No Sass-mouthing.
I mean it.
Give your mama a kiss.
[Aibileen] Leroy had made Sugar quit school to help him with the bills.
And every day Minny went without a job,
might have been a day Leroy took her from our world.
Good morning, everybody.
But I knew.
I knew the only white lady Miss HilLy hadn't gotten to with her lies.
[excitedly] Hey!
[giggling] Come on!
No Sass-mouthing, Minny Jackson. No Sass-mouthing.
Aibileen said you'd be on time.
I'm Celia Rae Foote.
I'm Minny Jackson.
You, uh... cooking something?
One of those upside-down cakes from a magazine.
It ain't working out too good. Come on, let's get you a cold Coca-Cola.
Come on.
This here is the kitchen.
What in the hell?
I guess I got some learning to do.
[scoffs] You sure do.
Johnny's grandmama left him this house when she died.
And then Johnny's mama wouldn't let me change a thing.
But if I had it my way,
this place would be wall-to-wall white carpet with gold trim.
None of this old stuff.
The main house has five beds and baths,
and then the pool house has two more beds and baths.
When y'all gonna start having some children,
filling up all these empty beds?
- I'm pregnant now. - Oh.
Gonna be eating for two. That's double the cooking.
I know. it's an awful lot to do.
Five other maids have already turned me down.
Let me at least get you some bus money.
Now, uh... when did you hear me say I don't want to clean this house?
Wait. So you'll do it?
[shrieks]
[laughing happily]
Ooh. No hugging. No hugging.
I'm sorry. This is the first time I've hired a maid.
Come on.
[laughing, giggling]
- You hungry? - No, ma'am. Hold on a minute.
We gots to talk about some things first.
Oh.
I work Sunday through Friday.
No, you can't work at all on the weekends.
OK. What time you want me here?
After 9.00, and you gotta leave before 4.00.
OK.
Now...
What your husband say you can pay?
Johnny doesn't know I'm bringing in help.
And what Mr Johnny gonna do when he come home
and find a coloured woman in his house?
It's not like I'd be fibbing.
I just want him to think I can do this on my own.
I really need a maid.
I'll be here tomorrow morning about 9.15.
[chuckling]
Great.
- Miss Celia? - Hmm?
I think you done burned up your cake.
Doggone it!
[running]
[HilLy] OK let's see. What's Hrst up on the agenda?
We are running behind on our coat drive. Hurry up and clean out those closets.
But our Christmas benefit, however, is right on schedule. Mary Beth?
Well, thanks to y'all, I can announce that we already filled
every raffle slot for baked goods!
[all cheering]
[Hilly] Think we can put a dent in African children's hunger this year?
A big dent!
Now...
...I just found out the surgeon general
has reviewed the Home Health Sanitation Initiative that I drafted,
and he passed it along to Governor Barnett!
Skeeter, when can we expect to see the initiative in the newsletter?
I gave it to you a month ago.
I gave that to you myself.
Would you please stand, Skeeter?
I'll have it in there real soon.
Great.
[up-tempo music]
- Sorry I'm late. - Hey.
Thanks.
Hilly, I really am sorry about the newsletter.
It's just with Mama being sick and all.
Oh, it's fine.
I made you the egg and olive on rye, Miss Skeeter.
Oh, thank you, Henry.
You remembered.
You're welcome.
Oh, Hilly, tell her. I can hardly stand it.
He's coming.
Oh, Skeeter, Stuarts definitely coming this time. Next Saturday week.
Well, he's cancelled twice before. Don't you think maybe that's a sign?
Don't you dare say that.
You know I'm not gonna be his type.
Damn it, Skeeter, I'm not gonna let you miss out on this
because your mother convinced you you're not good enough for somebody like him.
Saturday night.
Good morning.
Good morning, Baby Girl.
Good morning.
I reckon I'm ready to talk about Miss Leefolt now.
Baby Girl still gotta wear a diaper when she sleep at night.
And it don't get changed till I get there in the morning.
That about ten hours she gotta sleep in her mess.
Now Miss Leefolt pregnant with her second baby.
Lord... I pray this child turn out good.
It's a lonely road if a mama don't think their child is pretty.
That's very true.
Miss Leefolt should not be having babies.
Write that down.
Treelore would like me doing this.
He always said we were gonna have a writer in the family one day.
I always thought it was gonna be him. Maybe it's gonna be me.
[Minny] Aibileen, Aibileen.
They done set a bomb off in Medgar Evers' carport.
Yule Mae told me what y'all was up to. I didn't Want to believe it.
And just what makes you think coloured people need your help?
- Why do you care? - Minny.
Maybe you just want to get Aibileen in trouble.
No.
I want to show her perspective.
So people might understand what it's like from your side.
Well, it's a real Fourth of July picnic.
It's what we dream of doing all weekend long.
Get back into they house, polish the silver.
And we just love not making minimum wage or getting Social Security.
And how we love they children when they little.
And then they turn out just like they mamas.
I know.
Maybe things can change.
What law's gonna say you gotta be nice to your maid?
You don't have to do this now, Minny.
You damn right I don't!
You two give me the heart palpitations.
[door slamming]
And that's a good mood.
[sighing]
[man chattering indistinctly]
All right. I'm gonna do it.
But I need to make sure she understands this ain't no game we playing here.
Slide your chair out from under that table. Face me.
I need to see you square on at all times.
I gotta come up with your questions, too?
Oh.
Uh, let's begin with where you were born.
Belzoni, Mississippi, on my great-auntie's sofa.
Next.
- I put the green beans in first. - OK.
Then I get on the pork chops so I can get started on that cornbread.
[Aibileen] Once Minny got to talking about food, she liked to never stop.
And when she got to talking about the white ladies, it took all night.
Then she say, "Oh, Minny, I'm gonna give you a paid vacation."
I ain't never had no paid vacation in my life.
A Week later I come back, and they done moved to Mobile.
[laughing]
Miss Lazy Fingers scared I'd find a new job before she moved.
Ain't that right, Aibileen?
We gots to get some more maids.
It hard. You go try and see.
OK, I will.
We gone and done it now.
[laughing]
Skeeter! Get down here! Something just arrived from New York for you.
[shrieking]
What is that?
The Shinalator. All the way from New York City.
I'm a good mother. Come on. Sit down.
The whole system cost 11 dollars. Even smells expensive.
You're gonna look beautiful on your date tonight.
I can feel the hope in your fingers.
Holy shit.
- You shrunk five inches. - Oh, my God.
You'll be able to wear heels tonight.
You're not leaving the house in those awful Mexican man shoes.
Can I take the Cadillac?
We promised the Cadillac to Carlton and Rebecca tonight,
so William's cousin will just have to come pick you up himself.
- I'll take the truck. - it's hooked up to the motor grader.
I'll drive slow.
[mother] Skeeter! Skeeter!
Now remember, no gentleman wants to spend the evening with a sourpuss.
Don't mope! Smile!
And for heaven's sakes, don't sit like some Squaw Indian! Cross your ankles!
I love you!
Stuart, she'll be here any minute.
Hey.
Skeeter.
Boys, we'll be right back. Y'all talk about quarterbacks or something.
Yule Mae, get Miss Skeeter a Coca-Cola.
Yes, ma'am.
[swing music]
[whistling]
Want a drink?
Just water, please.
[sighing] Double Old Kentucky, straight with a water back. Make that two backs.
You sure you don't want to just make it the whole bottle and a straw?
Honey, there's the lieutenant governor. Let's go say hi.
Good to see you, sir. You remember my wife?
Hi, how are you? Good to see you.
[burping]
So, what do you do with your time?
You work?
I write.
But right now I'm working on a domestic maintenance column
for The Jackson Journal.
You mean housekeeping.
Jesus, I can't think of anything worse than reading a cleaning column,
except for maybe writing one.
Well, I can.
Working with a bunch of greasy, stinky men in the middle of the ocean.
It sounds like a ploy to find a husband, becoming an expert in keeping house.
Well, aren't you a genius? You figured out my whole scheme.
Isn't that what all you girls from Ole Miss major in...
...professional husband hunting?
Who is hungry?
I'm sorry, but were you dropped on your head as an infant?
Or were you just born stupid?
[coughing]
[squawking]
[chopping]
So, what can you cook?
Oh, um, I can cook cornpone.
Boil potatoes.
I can do grits.
[laughing]
Well...
...I reckon if there's anything you ought to know about cooking, it's this.
The most important invention since they put mayonnaise in a jar.
- You got gum in your hair, - [sizzling]
you got a squeaky door hinge...
Crisco.
How pretty.
Looks like frosting.
You got bags under your eyes.
Want to soften your husband's scaly feet.
Mm-hm. Crisco.
But it's best for flying chicken.
Flying chicken just...
...tend to make you feel better about life.
At least me, anyway.
Mm, I love me some fried chicken.
Now...
...shake that.
Oh.
This is so much fun!
All right, all right. The chicken already dead, Miss Celia.
[giggling]
Yep. He dead.
[sighing]
[Celia] There you are.
I'm starved. Looks so good.
We done been over this, Miss Celia.
You supposed to eat in the dining room. That's how it works.
Let me take your plate back.
I'm fine right here, Minny.
[sighing]
What?
I just want you to know I'm real grateful you're here.
You gots plenty more to be grateful for than me.
And look, now I ain't messing around no more.
Now Mr Johnny gonna catch me here,
and shoot me dead right here on this no-wax floor.
You gots to tell him.
Ain't he wondering how the cooking's so good?
You're right.
Maybe we ought to burn the chicken a little.
Minny don't burn chicken.
I like this Sarah Ross. She testifies without complaining too much.
And that Bertha, she's got chutzpah, I'll give her that.
So you liked it?
Eugenia, Martin Luther King just invited
the entire country to march with him in D.C. in August.
This many Negroes and whites
have not worked together since Gone with the Wind.
How many stories have you recorded thus far?
The ones you've read.
Two domestics, that's all?
[scoffing]
[Skeeter] I'm real close to getting more interviews.
Don't send me anything else until you do have more maids.
Yes, ma'am. How... how many more?
I don't know. At least a dozen.
My advice to you is to write it and write it fast
before this whole civil rights thing blows over.
Now good night to you, Miss Phelan.
We need a dozen more.
Me and Aibileen done asked everybody we know. Thirty-one maids.
They all too scared. Think we crazy.
If we don't get more, we're not getting published.
[Minny] I gots plenty stories, Miss Skeeter.
Just write them down and invent the maid that said it.
You're already making up names. Just make up the maids, too.
We're not gonna do that. That would be wrong.
Don't give up on this, Miss Skeeter.
It wouldn't be real.
They killed my son.
He fell carrying two-by-fours at the mill.
Truck run over him, crushed his lung.
[whispering] Aibileen.
That white foreman threw his body on back of a truck.
Drove to the coloured hospital...
...dumped him there and honked the horn.
There was nothing they could do, so I brought my baby home.
[voice breaking] Laid him down on that sofa right there.
He died right in front of me.
He was just 24 years old, Miss Skeeter. Best part of a person's life.
Anniversary of his death comes...
...every year, and I can't breathe.
But to y'all, it's just another day of bridge.
You stop this...
...everything I wrote, he wrote, everything he was is gonna die with him.
[Hilly] I am just honoured to be hosting Elizabeth's shower.
Doesn't she look glowing, everybody?
- [Clapping] - Yes, she does!
Honey, you hold on to it, to the bitter end.
[women laughing]
- I'll try. - Well, congratulations.
I'm hungry, Mommy.
She's always hungry.
[all laughing]
You know she can hear you, Elizabeth.
[Aibileen] I'll cut you a piece of cake, baby. Go on, now.
Aibileen, are you enjoying your new bathroom over at Elizabeth's?
Nice to have your own. isn't it, Aibileen?
Yes, ma'am. And I thank you.
Separate, but equal.
That's what Ross Barnett says, and you can't argue with the governor.
Well, certainly not in Mississippi, the birthplace of modern-day government.
Hey, Miss Skeeter. Can I get you something?
No, thanks.
Yule Mae, I wanted to talk to you about something.
I already know what you're gonna ask, Miss Skeeter.
Minny and Aibileen already did.
I'm trying to get my boys off to college.
It's worthwhile what y'all are doing, but...
...but my boys are worth more.
I understand.
What do you understand, Skeeter?
Yule Mae was just saying how excited she is that her boys are going to college.
Did you also ask Miss Skeeter if you could borrow money?
Of course not.
I'm gonna put Billy down for his nap.
Excuse me.
Come on, baby.
[clearing throat]
Skeeter, are you intentionally not putting my initiative in the newsletter?
No, not at all. I just have been really busy with Mama.
I know.
I know, you must be so worried about your mother, but...
I'm worried about you.
Reading this stuff?
Believe it or not, there are real racists in this town.
If the wrong person caught you with anything like that,
you'd be in serious trouble.
I'll be on the lookout.
Put my initiative in the newsletter.
OK?
[footsteps approaching]
Skeeter, get up!
- No! What? - We've got to get dressed.
What's wrong?
Don't panic. Don't panic.
There's a particularly tall and very handsome man named Stuart here for you.
Oh, God.
Oh, mother.
You would not like him. Trust me.
He's a drunken asshole.
Love and hate are two horns on the same goat, Eugenia, and you need a goat.
Put that on. Hurry!
Look, I know it was a few weeks back,
but I came to say I'm sorry for the way I acted.
Who sent you, William or Hilly?
Neither.
Hilly. But I wanted to come, OK.
I was rude, and I've been thinking about it a lot.
- Well, I haven't. So you can just go. - Goddamn it!