This article argues that ordinary black women were profoundly committed to respectability during and following the Civil War. This devotion to respectability can be seen in three key areas as these women sought to keep orderly homes, demonstrated a commitment to lawfulness, and worked to attain economic independence. Far from being the sole domain of the middle class, African American women from all backgrounds were strongly attached to respectability during this period because it provided them with a code of behavior that would not only improve their own lives but would also presumably force whites to see them as equals. Although this adherence to respectability never brought widespread social acceptance from whites, black women’s commitment to respectability resonated with the ambitions of a large proportion of black New Yorkers from varying class backgrounds. In addition to embracing the behaviors of respectability in their daily lives, it is also clear that many African American women engaged in forms of anti-discrimination protest rooted in respectability. In particular, women’s commitment to financial independence undergirded their efforts to seek economic restitution. In this article, we explore the ways in which ordinary black women fought for economic redress, and we examine the responses of local and federal officials to their claims. As black women demonstrated their commitment to respectability by demanding the compensation they were promised, government officials often tried harder to repress them. These negotiations between ordinary black women and government officials demonstrate how black women fought against racism and structural inequality at a time of increasing discrimination in the country’s largest urban center.