As expected, the Help [unfortunately] received several nominations.
'The Help' was nominated for Best Picture.  [My first thought was that if it wins, the award acceptance will be like when Crash won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2006.  Right, it's okay if everyone's a little bit racist?]
Tony Award winner, Viola Davis, who was excellent in 2008's Doubt is also nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role.  
In the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category is both the outcast Southern Belle from the film, Celia Foote, played by Jessica Chastain, as well as Minny, played by Octavia Spencer.  Spencer won a Golden Globe for her role during last week's award ceremony.  
It is a shame that Black actresses are still being lauded for roles Hattie McDaniel and Butterfly McQueen mastered in 1939.  [See McDaniel's acceptance speech.]    
[Not to mention the obvious Oscar snub to Pariah.]