So when you move forward to the civil rights movement in the mid-20th century, the well-dressed African American was a visual and symbolic repudiation of white supremacy.
People drive in on their motorbikes, men dress smartly in silk shirts, ladies covered head to toe in some sort of protective garment to shield them from the dirt and the sun no less, and not from potential accidents.
There were a group of shabbily dressed men smoking and loafing at the corner, a scissors grinder working at his wheel, two soldiers flirting with a nurse, and several well-dressed young men and women walking back and forth.