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THREAD-"You might not think of tipping as a legacy of slavery, but it has a far more racialized history than most Americans realize." - @RevDrBarber politi.co/2JCQNMd via @politicomag
"Tipping originated in feudal Europe and was imported back to the United States by American travelers eager to seem sophisticated.
"The practice spread throughout the country after the Civil War as U.S. employers, largely in the hospitality sector, looked for ways to avoid paying formerly enslaved workers.
"One of the most notorious examples comes from the Pullman Company, which hired newly freed African American men as porters. Rather than paying them a real wage, it provided the black porters with just a meager pittance, forcing them to rely on tips from their white clientele."
"Tipping further entrenched a unique and often racialized class structure in service jobs, in which workers must please both customer and employer to earn anything at all."
