History of Self-Care and 10 Self-Care Tips
Hey everyone!
Today I will be going through a brief timeline of the history of self-care and how it was kickstarted by Black female civil rights activists in the 20th century.
I was listening to a podcast on Balanced Black Girl about the history of self-care and how it has evolved over the past 60 years or so, and I never knew how much influence the Black community had on the term self-care.
The Museum of African American History defines self-care as, “a wide range of practices and activities we engage in to care for ourselves. These practices address the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of our lives at the most basic level.”
When discussing the history of self-care, we must pay homage to the Black Power movement for paving the way for self-care practices to become accessible to all. The Black Power movement of the 1960s and 70s sparked a collective understanding of the importance of mental and physical wellness amongst underserved Black and Brown folks. Both the Black Panther Party and the Trailblazers emphasized community efforts for self-care. Prominent figures such as Audre Lorde, Angela Davis, and Erika Huggins started implementing activities like yoga, meditations, arts and crafts, and healthy eating initiatives for incarcerated folks, which then permeated beyond the confines of prison walls following their release. These leaders fostered a movement that resulted in the widespread effort toward, “holistic needs of Black communities and Black activists have always been a part of community organizers’ tactics. Black women, often queer, pushed other activists toward caring for themselves as a necessary, everyday revolutionary practice,” says Maryam K. Aziz, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research fellow at Penn State University.
In today's society, the self-care industry looks drastically different than it did back then. While self-care was originally used to promote the general health and wellness of Black folks during the era of civil rights, it soon became an industry governed by white Eurocentric beauty standards and capitalistic goals for praying on vulnerable women and fueling the need for materialism and cosmetics as a means of “taking care of ourselves”. Today's self-care industry has increased its market value to approximately $1.5 trillion, with an annual growth rate of 5%-10% in recent years. The self-care and wellness industries includes everything from cosmetic surgery to skincare and makeup to healthy eating to expensive gym memberships and so much more. With all of these narratives and products that we are sold or taught to believe are the pinnacles of self-care, we often forget that self-care comes from within our body rather than from the external body.
Audre Lorde said it best when she said,
"Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare."
Self-care was and still is a force that drives the Black community at-large to stay healthy and grow stronger in their fight for equality. It is undeniable that self-care is crucial to Black survival today. The well-being of Black folks started with self-care, and we must continue to provide the space for Black folks to engage in self-care practices without the misogynistic and capitalistic standards of the beauty industry weighing us down. Taking care of our mental, physical, and spiritual well-being is the key to a fulfilling life.
Given that there are systemic barriers, here are some self-care activities that DO NOT require specific financial means
Going for a hot girl walk around your neighborhood
Doing a free meditation from YouTube in the morning
Taking a hot bath or shower after a long day
Connect with a loved one; in person or virtually
Go to your local library and pick out a new book
Go on Pinterest and complete a self-love journal exercise
Practice a hobby that you’ve pushed aside (mine is reading at the moment)
Clean your space or your virtual space (the digital junk drawer is reallll)
Move your body with a workout video on Youtube
Cook yourself a nourishing meal with whatever leftover food you have in the fridge/freezer
I hope you all enjoyed this post on the history of self-care.
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Love,
Syd <3
References:
“Breaking Isolation: Self Care and Community Care Tools for Our People.” The Audre Lorde Project, 27 Jan. 2017, alp.org/breaking-isolation-self-care-and-community-care-tools-our-people.
Takyi-Micah, Natasha. “Origins of Self-Care and Why Activists and Advocates Need to Practice It.” The Center for Community Solutions, 7 Apr. 2023, www.communitysolutions.com/origins-of-self-care-and-why-activists-and-advocates-need-to-practice-it/#:~:text=Ericka%20Huggins%20and%20Angela%20Davis,continue%20to%20fight%20social%20injustices.
Houseworth, Lenora E. “How the Black Panthers Revolutionized Self-Care.” Teen Vogue, Teen Vogue, 14 Jan. 2021, www.teenvogue.com/story/the-radical-history-of-self-care.
