Both Kathryn Stockett's The Help and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird are set in times of harsh racial inequality in the South; however, they carry the idea of ​​racial equality to each other. Both books show the effort towards change in society, which can often be perceived as white-led. However, despite the strong white protagonists created by Harper Lee in To Kill a Mockingbird and Kathryn Stockett in The Help, this is not unintentionally racist; in the societies in which the novels are placed, blacks had virtually no choice but to follow whites, or face extreme consequences, and there was equal respect involved. The authors made an effort to ensure that the books were true to the time period. While society at the time was extremely racist, neither book is, even though white people can often appear as the leaders. To Kill a Mockingbird is set around 1935, a time when black people had very few rights and white supremacy was omnipresent; this setting becomes a major obstacle for Tom Robinson. This society is shown through the trial of Tom Robinson and his much-needed dependence on Atticus. While it could be argued that Atticus is portrayed by Harper Lee as better than Tom Robinson and as his savior, this is not the case. Due to the setting of the novel, Tom Robinson had no alternative but to place his trust in Atticus's hands, otherwise he will face further consequences. Atticus then proceeded to prove Tom's innocence. Atticus may have been portrayed as the leader in this fight for Tom's innocence, but that doesn't mean Tom was weak, he simply had no choice if Harper Lee wanted to make the novel accurate. After Tom's death, when he was shot while escaping from prison, Scout realizes, "Tom was a dead man the moment Mayella opened her mouth and screamed"...the center of the card...could seem like the strong leader, this may sometimes be true, but it doesn't come across as racist. Breaking this would be unrealistic for the time period the novels are set in. Black people are shown to use that white leadership as security and to carry out tasks that they were unable to carry out due to the consequences of doing so. In both books, both races are shown to respect each other and often draw. In these ways, neither book can be proven racist. Harper Lee and Kathryn Stockett illustrated the condescending lines of racism and evil that existed in these societies, and in doing so accomplished the difficult task of not being racist themselves. Works Cited Lee, Harper. To kill a thrush. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1960. New York: Warner Books, 1999. Stockett, Kathryn. The help. New York: Amy Einhorn, 2009. Print.