Higginbotham introduced the phrase in her 1993 book Righteous Discontent, a history of women in the Black Baptist church from 1880 to 1920. She described how these women promoted manners, cleanliness and thrift both to uplift their communities and to counter racist stereotypes. It was a survival strategy as well as a form of resistance.
The civil rights movement made strategic use of respectability. In March 1955, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat in Montgomery. Leaders chose not to build a test case around her, in part because they worried about how she would be portrayed. Rosa Parks, an experienced NAACP officer, became the face of the boycott nine months later.
Critics say respectability politics does not protect people from racism. Black people in suits and Sunday clothes were still beaten during civil rights marches. Today the idea shows up when commentators blame victims of police violence for their clothing, music or behavior. It shifts attention from the system to the people it harms.