Aibileen is one of the black maids in Jackson. In the first chapter here, she tells the story of how she lost her 24-year-old son, Treelore. He had been killed on a lumber-loading night job when he was accidentally run over by a truck in the dark. Aibileen was normally a quiet, happy, church-going woman who wrote her prayers out by hand in a journal every night. Her son’s death affected her greatly. For months, she couldn’t work. Eventually she got a job with the Leefolts. Even then, she says:

But it weren’t too long before I seen something in me had changed. A bitter seed was planted inside a me. And I just didn’t feel so accepting anymore.

Treelore's death was followed by more racial unrest in Jackson, resulting in the deaths of others, including black activist and leader Medgar Evers. The continuing violence and divide between the races embittered Aibileen even further, in spite of her true character and nature. By the end of the book, however, her attitude begins to change quite a bit, thanks to Skeeter’s initiative to compile the black maids’ stories into a book.