Respectability politics served as a foundation for overt black political action

Evidence

The politics of respectability afforded black church women a powerful weapon of resistance to race and gender subordination. It provided the very groundwork for protest, voting, and other traditionally recognized forms of political activity. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 1031

Categorization

• DEFINE: Directly captures the coined concept: the politics of respectability as groundwork for protest, not a retreat from it.
• XREF: This is the book’s core coined term, sharply contrasting with later critical uses; connects to how the reader’s broader debate treats respectability as assimilationist. — connects to: Respectability politics deferred to segregation in practice but never in principle — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 886; The politics of respectability required blacks to police their own behavior against racist stereotype — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 900; Respectability politics created status hierarchies inside the black working class — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 930 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Respectability politics can both empower and imprison a marginalized group #complicates (0.85) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1128
• Black radical political traditions were narrowed out of view by liberal respectability #complicates (0.80) — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 408
• Respectability politics extends beyond Black women to nationalism and bodily self-control #expands (0.78) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 1548
• Abolitionists made freedom conditional on Black respectability #expands (0.75) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 326