This article examines the Detroit Housewives League (DHL) in the 1930s and 1940s, concentrating on DHL members’ actions as businesswomen. Past narratives have framed the DHL as an extension of the black women’s club movement or as part of the women-driven consumer movements of the 1930s and 1940s, particularly highlighting the organization’s philosophies on black women’s purchasing power. I argue that entrepreneurial DHL women brought prior business knowledge to their organizing and were significant business experts and leaders. By conducting business research, forging community networks, and, significantly, establishing commercial colleges and other forms of business education in the city, DHL members’ work was vital for the black business community as a whole and for women entrepreneurs in particular. In reframing the DHL as an organization established by black entrepreneurial women, I suggest scholars should reevaluate black women’s contributions to other forms of activism in order to recover additional histories of black women’s entrepreneurship and business leadership.

本文研究了1930年代和1940年代的底特律家庭主妇联盟（DHL），重点研究了DHL成员作为女企业家的行为。过去的叙述将DHL定义为黑人妇女俱乐部运动的延伸，或者是1930年代和1940年代女性主导的消费者运动的一部分，特别强调了该组织关于黑人妇女购买力的理念。我认为DHL创业女性为他们的组织带来了先验商业知识，并且是重要的商业专家和领导者。通过开展商业研究，建立社区网络以及在城市中建立商学院和其他形式的商业教育，DHL成员的工作对于整个黑人商业社区，尤其是女性企业家至关重要。