The respectability campaign rhetorically elevated working-class domestic servants as race exemplars

Evidence

The WC’s politics of respectability deployed the image of the domestic servant in a rallying appeal to the race and gender consciousness of working-class black women. This was particularly true for fund raising. The report of the WC’s executive board and corresponding secretary defended the vocational emphasis of the training school: “Why not help the women who work at service? They are the best friends the churches have. They give more and attend services better than any other class of laborers.” Support from thousands of ordinary black women throughout the country attested to their belief in the school’s goals and program. Without the assistance of large philanthropic donations, the school survived because of the cumulative power of countless small gifts. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 997

Categorization

• XREF: Shows respectability politics had a class dimension — deploying working-class women’s image for fundraising rather than only imposing middle-class norms downward. — connects to: Teaching domestic respectability to black women was read as racial-equality activism by white supremacists — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 477; 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 (+11 more)

Broader Connections

• Respectability politics converted menial work into skilled identity rather than merely outward manners #corroborates (0.90) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 964
• Respectability politics served as a foundation for overt black political action #complicates (0.85) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 1031
• Black middle-class respectability stigmatized calypso as lower-class degeneracy #expands (0.82)
• Respectability politics extends beyond Black women to nationalism and bodily self-control #corroborates (0.80) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 1548
• Respectability politics can both empower and imprison a marginalized group #expands (0.78) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1128
• Respectability discourse loaded black women with responsibility for the whole race #expands (0.76)
• Preexisting race-thinking gave racism a false veneer of respectability #qualifies (0.72)