Reply #3: Just before I left Alabama in 1967

[Frances]

someone had a going-away party for me on a large farm outside Montgomery. 3 of the women in that rural area were discussing what they would pay their maids. All agreed on $3/day. At that time, the minimum wage was over $1/hour, and a typical maid in that area worked from about 7:30 am until about 5 pm. But in that area at that time no one would hire black women as sales clerks or other blue collar jobs, so the black women took what work they could find just like the black women in The Help.

I still remember how shocked I was to see a black person checking out groceries at the local grocery store in the early 70s.