The Politics of Respectability

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The Politics of Respectability

Detroit Urban League, “Helpful Hints for Migrants to Detroit.”

Detroit Urban League, “Helpful Hints for Migrants to Detroit,” 1918. Bentley Historical Library: Bentley Image Bank. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bhl/x-hs6701/hs6701. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed October 02, 2024.

Document Text	Summary
HELPFUL HINTS
DON’T carry on loud conversations or use vulgar or obscene language on the street cars, streets, or in public places. Remember that this hurts us as a race.	Don’t talk loud or use curse words in public places. Remember, this makes all Black people look bad.
DON’T go about the streets or on the street car in bungalow aprons, boudoir caps and house slippers. Wear regular street clothes when you go into the streets.	Don’t go into public spaces wearing your comfortable home clothes. Wear street clothes.
TRY to dress neatly at all times, but don’t be a dude or wear flashy clothes. They are as undesirable and as harmful as unclean clothes.	Try to dress neatly, but don’t wear flashy clothing. Flashy clothing is as bad as dirty clothing.
DON’T think you can hold your job unless you are on time, industrious, efficient and sober.	Don’t expect to keep your job unless you are always on time, hardworking, efficient, and sober.
DON’T sit in front of your house or around Belle Isle or public places with your shoes off. Don’t wear overalls on Sunday.	Don’t allow yourself to be seen in public without shoes on. Don’t wear overalls on Sunday.
DON’T stay away from work every time someone gives a picnic or boat ride. Stay on your job. Others do.	Don’t take off work every time there is a fun activity. Do your job. Others do.
DON’T spend all your money for pleasure. Save some of it for extra clothing and fuel for the winter and to take care of your family and yourself when sickness comes.	Don’t spend all your money on fun. Save some for extra clothing and fuel for the winter. You might also need it to take care of sick family.
DON’T forget that cleanliness and fresh air are necessary to good health. Keep your windows open.	Don’t forget that a clean home and fresh air is needed for good health. Keep your windows open.
DON’T do your children’s hair up into alleys, canals and knots if you don’t want other children to make fun of them. Keep them clean.	Don’t braid your children’s hair. Other children will make fun of them. Keep your children clean.
DON’T keep your children out of school. See that they attend the nearest school to you.	Send your children to school. Enroll them in the school closest to your home.
DON’T fail to start a savings account with some good bank or building loan association.	Start a savings account.
DON’T throw refuse and tin cans in your back or front yards. Keep your surroundings as clean as possible. This makes for good health.	Don’t throw garbage in your yard. Keep your yard as clean as possible to promote good health.
DON’T fool with patent medicines in case of sickness. Send for a good doctor. In case you have no money, go to some of the Board of Health clinics.	Don’t try untested medicine if you are sick. See a good doctor. If you have no money to pay a doctor, go to a city health clinic.
DON’T be rude and ugly to people on the streets. Be courteous and polite and thereby keep out of trouble.	Don’t be rude to people in public. Be kind and polite to stay out of trouble.
DON’T fail to meet the teachers of your children. Keep in touch with them. Every hateful thing that your child says about the teacher is not true.	Meet your children’s teachers and keep in touch with them. Don’t believe everything your child says about their teacher.
DON’T fail to become connected with some church as soon as you get in the city.	Join a church as soon as you get to the city.
DON’T make lots of unnecessary noise going to and from baseball games. If the parks are taken away from you it will be partly your own fault.	Don’t act rowdy when walking to and from baseball games. If the parks are taken away it will be partly your fault.

Document Text	Summary
With the deep earnest and sincere wish in my heart for your greatest advancement, your most perfect success, for the realization of your lofty ideals, I say, men of Ohio, ye are sleeping; awake! awake! awake to your possibilities, awake to your opportunities, awake to your glorious privileges. …	Men of Ohio, I sincerely wish for your success! But you are asleep! Wake up and notice all the opportunities and privileges you have.
I remember having heard the old adage, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way;” but I had no realization of its meaning. To me, it was as Hamlet says, merely “words, words, words.”	I remember hearing the old saying “where there’s a will, there’s a way,” but I did not understand what it meant. It was just words.
But, my dear friends, that means what it says. It means if you would be the greatest musician in the world, that you can be; it means if you would be the greatest writer in the world, that you can be. But you must will to do it with all your heart, and with all your mind, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. This will mean an inexhaustible reservoir of patience, courage, push, hope, faith, work, perseverance.	But friends, it means that if you want to be the greatest musician in the world, you can be. It means if you want to be the greatest writer in the world, you can be. But you must work for it with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. You will need a never-ending supply of patience, courage, push, hope, faith, work, and perseverance.
I remember also another phrase that the teacher frequently quoted: —”Fortune is a lazy goddess; she will never come to you.” I thought this merely a high-sounding phrase, wholly false. …To me, fortune was a good thing going about seeking someone to bless. But, friends, it is too true that “Fortune is a lazy goddess; she will never come to you.” If you seek her, you will find her. But you must seek diligently. She lives on the highest peak of the Himalayas, I think, but at any rate, you must be willing to bear suffering, hardship, toil and disappointment in your pursuit of her. If you are faithful to the end, you will find her.	I also remember another phrase: “Fortune is a lazy goddess; she will never come to you.” I thought this was wrong. I thought fortune was a good thing that just wandered around looking for people to bless. But, friends, I know now that the saying is true. If you look for fortune, you will find it. But you must work hard to find it. I think fortune might live on Mount Everest. You must be willing to experience suffering, hardship, hard work, and disappointment to find it. If you keep going, you will find it.
Children of Ohio! do you want the blessings of fortune, and do you will to have them? Then take them, for they are yours. You live in one of the best states in the Union for people of our race, schools of medicine, law, music, art, elocution and business are everywhere open to you. Are you improving these golden opportunities? O! let us avail ourselves of the wonderful advantages with which we are surrounded! As you go about through life, you will find many people who will tell you, “Oh you can’t succeed at that : why I knew a man, etc., etc ; ” or “Don’t undertake any such thing as you contemplate for it will be a failure ; I know a man, etc., etc.”	Children of Ohio: do you want fortune’s blessings? Do you have the will to get them? Then take them, they are yours! You live in one of the best states in the US for Black Americans. We have Black colleges for medicine, law, music, art, public speaking, and business. Are you taking these golden opportunities? Let us all make use of the wonderful advantages we have around us. As you go through life, you will find many people who will tell you “You cannot succeed” or “I know someone who tried that and failed.”
Young people! never measure your possibilities by another man’s failures: There must be a beginning to all things. If, therefore, we have never had a colored president, there is all the more reason why you may become the first one.	Young people! Never let another person’s failures limit your possibilities. There must be a first time for everything. If, for example, we have never had a Black president, there is all the more reason to think you might become the first one.

Carrie Williams Clifford and Ohio Federation Of Colored Women’s Clubs, Sowing for Others to Reap, 1900. Library of Congress.

Background

In the early 1890s Southern Black Americans began moving to Northern cities in large numbers to escape the racial oppression and violence of the Jim Crow South. In total, about 500,000 Southern Black Americans moved north between 1910 and 1920, many in search of industrial work. Today, this mass movement is called the Great Migration.

Life in the urban North was very different from life in the rural South, and it was not always safe. Black activists tried to help Southern Black Americans acclimate to their new lives. But much of their advice focused on how Black Americans should adapt themselves to fit white social standards. The thinking was that if Black people could lead irreproachable lives, then white people would give up their racist attitudes. Today, historians call this strategy “the politics of respectability.”

About the Resources

These two documents are examples of Black activists promoting the politics of respectability in the early 1900s. The first document, “Helpful Hints,” was a pamphlet published in 1918 by the Detroit Urban League. The National Urban League was established in 1910 with the purpose of supporting Black communities in Northern cities. The Detroit branch was led by local Black activists. This pamphlet offers suggestions on what Black families should and should not do upon arriving in the North. It offers tips for how to behave in society as well as how to present oneself. This was vital for those trying to find work and be accepted in their new communities, but again put the burden on Black families and more specifically on Black women, to make themselves fit into a world that was not accepting of them.

The second is an excerpt from an essay by Carrie Williams Clifford. She argues that anyone can do anything so long as they put in the hard work and commit to their goal. This was probably meant to inspire Black people to push for a better life regardless of their circumstances, but it also downplays the very real systemic racism that prevented most Black Americans from achieving their dreams no matter how hard they tried.

Vocabulary

politics of respectability: A political strategy in which oppressed minorities assimilate into the dominant culture to get ahead.
systemic racism: Racial oppression that is reinforced by social, economic, legal, and cultural systems.

Discussion Questions

According to these documents, what challenges did Black American women face in the early 1900s? How are they advised to face these challenges?
Why are these two documents strong examples of the politics of respectability?
Do you think this advice worked? Why or why not?
What are the limits of the politics of respectability as a strategy?

Suggested Activities

Teach these documents together with Black Life in the Urban North and Migrating North for a more comprehensive lesson on women and the Great Migration.
Use The Tulsa Massacre to reinforce for students why the politics of respectability is only marginally helpful in combating racism.
Pair this resource with Henrietta Industrial School, Life Story: Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Life Story: Angelina Weld Grimké to discuss what life was like for Black women during this time period.
For a more comprehensive study of Black women’s experiences in the Progressive Era, use this resource, along with Henrietta Industrial School, Life Story: Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Life Story: Angelina Weld Grimké, and any or all of the following resources:
For a consideration of Black women’s activism across American history, use this resource along with any or all of the following resources:

Themes

AMERICAN CULTURE

Source Notes

Resource