Housewives is More than a TV Show!

What image comes to mind when you hear the word “Housewives”? Do you picture loud, boisterous women thriving on drama? Do you think of catfights, scandals, and lavish parties devoid of purpose? Or do you envision dignified Black women—pillars of their communities—who once stood at the forefront of economic justice and empowerment?

Ironically, it’s the latter image that truly defines the original Housewives, a powerful collective of Black women known as the Housewives’ League.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Black communities in the North began to organize around economic justice. These efforts led to campaigns such as “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work” and “Spend Your Money Where You Can Work,” which pressured white-owned businesses to hire Black workers if they wished to continue receiving Black patronage. These consumer boycotts became a major tool in the broader fight against Jim Crow laws, ultimately forcing many discriminatory businesses into bankruptcy.

One of the most influential of these efforts was the Housewives’ League of Detroit, founded in June 1930 by Fannie B. Peck. Inspired by a speech about Harlem housewives supporting Black-owned Cooperative Marketing Association (CMA) stores, Peck mobilized women to commit to economic self-determination. By 1935, the Detroit League had over 12,000 members, organized into 16 neighborhood units. Their mission was to support Black businesses and professionals, purchase Black-made products, and prepare the next generation of entrepreneurs and leaders.

That same year, the League formed its first Junior Unit for children aged 6 to 15. By 1946, they had expanded to include a High School and College Educational Unit for young people ages 15 to 21. These initiatives instilled values of self-reliance and economic pride in Black youth, reinforcing the importance of ownership and community-driven progress.

Other chapters quickly formed in cities like Harlem (1,000 members by 1931), Baltimore (2,000 members), Chicago, Washington, D.C., Cleveland, and Pittsburgh. These chapters welcomed both working- and middle-class women—a notable shift from the typically middle-class-led Black women’s club movement of the time. In 1933, these chapters united to form the National Housewives’ League of America, further advancing their economic activism through national campaigns.

Fast-forward to the present day, and the word Housewives has taken on a drastically different meaning. Shows like The Real Housewives franchise often project a very different image—one focused on drama, materialism, and interpersonal conflict. My first encounter with the franchise was during the inaugural season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. At first, the show showed promise: it featured successful women like Lisa Wu Hartwell, who owned a real estate firm, a jewelry line, and a baby clothing company; and DeShawn Snow, who ran a nonprofit focused on teenage girls’ self-esteem.

Ironically—and tellingly—these two women were later removed from the show, while those who perpetuated more sensational narratives remained. Today, the franchise appears more focused on spectacle than substance, and it offers little inspiration or empowerment for Black women and girls.

So why call it Real Housewives? What reality is being portrayed, and how does it compare to the legacy of the women who came before? The original Housewives promoted dignity, economic empowerment, and community uplift. In contrast, the modern version seems to promote division, scandal, and distraction—far removed from the original purpose and power of that title.

As the founders of the Housewives' Leagues once declared:

“We emphasize and declare it to be most desirable to own our own business and manage it ourselves... while we recognize as an act of fairness the employment of Negroes in businesses owned and operated by other racial groups, yet we feel that the solution of our economic problem is the ownership of business, and to this end we shall confine our efforts.”

That message is as relevant now as it was nearly a century ago. As we face growing economic uncertainty and inequality, we too must return to the principle of doing for self. We must support Black-owned businesses, create our own jobs, and build wealth within our communities. If we are to survive—and thrive—in these changing times, we must honor and reclaim the legacy of the real Housewives.