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After graduating from the University of Mississippi with a degree in English, Skeeter comes home to live with her mother and father on their farm.
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At the weekly bridge club, Miss Hilly, Skeeter, Miss Leefolt, and Miss Walters get together discuss their lives. Hilly comes up with the awful idea to create separate bathrooms for the help so white people won't catch their "diseases." She calls it the Home Help Sanitation Initiative.
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Skeeter's lifelong maid and friend, Constantine, is not at home when she comes back from Ole Miss. She is never told the full truth about why Constantine left them.
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James Meredith was the first African American student to enroll at University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). When he attempted to, riots broke out and President Kennedy was forced to call in the National Guard to let him in.
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Miss Hilly fires Minny and spreads rumors that she is a thief. Minny gets revenge but won't tell anyone what she did. Instead, she just calls it the "Terrible Awful" thing.
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With the help of Aibileen, Skeeter is finally able to start writing her book about black housemaids in Jackson.
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Medgar Evers was the field secretary for the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). He was shot to death in front of his two children.
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250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to protest for Civil Rights.
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Celia and Miss Hilly have a scene at the Junior League Benefit.
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Minny tells Aibileen and Skeeter what the Terrible Awful thing she did to Miss Hilly was.
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John F. Kennedy was assassinated during his presidential campaign in Dallas, Texas.
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Bob Dylan's album "The Times They Are A Changing" is released technically a month after it's appearance in the book. However, the song played an important role in pushing Skeeter to persevere on her book.
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President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 guaranteeing equal equal employment, limiting literacy tests and ensuring officers enforced integration in public facilities.
