"The Help" author on book's racial viewpoint

The runaway bestseller, "The Help," is a look back at the relationships between white women and their black maids in Mississippi in the early 1960s. The book was written by Kathryn Stockett, and the film version premieres today. The author has sparked a lot of controversy because she's white, yet wrote her novel from the perspective of an African-American housekeeper. If that's not unusual enough, she let her best friend, a relative unknown, direct the film.

Stockett's explosive novel is set against the backdrop of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, a time of segregation and sit-ins, CBS News Correspondent Bill Whitaker reports.

It's the story of a rebellious Southern belle who collaborates with black maids to write a book pulling the covers off the complex, often painful relationships between a pampered, privileged class of white women and the black women who served them. "The Help" has been a bestseller for more than 100 weeks, and the movie has A-list actors, including Viola Davis and Emma Stone.

Stockett and the film's director, Tate Taylor, are lifelong friends who grew up in Jackson, Miss., raised by black housekeepers. "The Help" is her first book and his first major motion picture.

Stockett reluctantly showed Taylor her manuscript after 60 literary agents had rejected it.

Taylor said of her book, "You think you know your best friend so well, and I could not believe that this was in her."

Taylor begged her for the screen rights.

Stockett said, "Everyone in my world was saying, 'No!'"

Taylor added, "'Hell no.'"

"'Hell no, you can't give it to Tate Taylor,'" Stockett said. "'He has no credentials. He looks bad on paper.'"

His credentials amounted to an independent film called, "Pretty, Ugly People," which grossed $6,500 at the box office.

But, Stockett said, "I knew if anyone, you know, would understand this story, it would be Tate."

It's a story that ignites great passion; millions love it, but many loathe that a white woman dared to tell a story through the eyes of black maids, in black dialect.

Whitaker said, "I know you've heard, 'How dare she, a white woman from the South!'"

Stockett said, "I felt that. I was saying that to myself as I was writing it. When I grew up, we did not talk about race. I'm still not entirely comfortable with what I've written. And I know I didn't get it all right, but it's so important for people to explore what it must feel like to be in someone else's shoes."

Viola Davis, who plays a maid named Aibileen in the movie, and Octavia Spencer, who portrays one named Minnie, haven't escaped the criticism, but they say they believe in the book and are proud of the movie.

Davis says she was giving voice to her mother, who was a maid.

Davis told CBS News, "It's great to pay homage to them in the film, so they could come to the forefront, and shine a light on their lives."

Spencer added, "What we should do is get beyond seeing things in terms of color and focus on the things that make us similar."

Whitaker told Stockett, "The book has been on the bestseller list forever, but the movie sort of knocks that up a notch."

Stockett replied, "I'm so proud to say, that was not my problem. It's such a joy to hand that over to Tate and Octavia and Viola and just say, 'Y'all do what you want to do."'

Stockett says she's still stunned that her book has struck a chord with so many. The book has now been translated into 39 languages.