After reconstruction, the "Tip Economy" was created as trap designed to keep Black workers desperate and dependent on white benevolence.

But Black service workers flipped the script. They turned "The Service" into an art.

They quickly realized that a white patrons didn't just want dinner. He wanted to feel superior.

Black waiters and porters mastered the art of the "Performance." They learned that by performing deference by smiling wider, moving faster, and anticipating needs they could trigger a psychological guilt or pride in the patron that opened their wallet.

They were charging a "Tax on the Ego."

It was a degrading game. It required suppressing your true self to win. But don’t look back on them with pity. Look at them with respect. They took the money from that performance and used it to fund the NAACP, build Black Wall Streets, and send their children to college.

They smiled so we wouldn't have to.