External concern for white perceptions drove internal criticism of black nonconformity

Evidence

The public discourse of the Woman’s Convention betrayed yet another, even opposite understanding of blacks’ position vis-a-vis white Americans. The WC’s enormous concern for whites’ perceptions of black behavior regularly prompted scathing critiques against nonconformity to “proper” values. In its denunciation of those blacks who rejected hard work, piety, cleanliness, sexual purity, and temperance, the WC unwittingly reinforced prevalent stereotypical images of blacks. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 894

Categorization

• DEFINE: Captures the core internal- versus external-facing tension of the politics of respectability — policing one’s own members out of worry for how outsiders judge the group.
• XREF: connects to: Misunderstanding among black subjects before whites reveals a failure of judgment; White Americans feel constrained by black sensitivity when discussing race — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black: How Race Still…, 162; White fear of black anger distorts and constrains black political behavior — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black: How Race Still…, 244

Broader Connections

• White fear of black anger distorts and constrains black political behavior #expands (0.78) — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 244
• Misunderstanding among black subjects before whites reveals a failure of judgment #corroborates (0.75)
• White Americans feel constrained by black sensitivity when discussing race #qualifies (0.72) — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 162