Reconnecting to Our Roots: The History of Self-Care

The ancestors and elders be knowing…

As the late, great poet, author, and activist, Maya Angelou once said “you can't really know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been”. When it comes to self-care, this quote has particular significance because knowing our history allows us to stay focused on the purpose and prevents confusion about what it is and isn’t.

When you hear the term “self-care”, you may roll your eyes due to the over-use of the term in mainstream media, negative beliefs about it or your disconnection from it. I, too, have had that reaction and even struggled with the term “self-care coach” due to its potential negative connotations. However, when I reconnect with the origins of the practice, I am reminded that the initial purpose was to serve as an additional layer of protection for communities that were often neglected (e.g Black people, elderly, mentally distressed) and to combat the negative effects of the systems like capitalism.

The term self-care originated in the medical field when doctors and psychiatrists began to shift to a “person-centered” approach and encouraged patients to be more proactive about caring for themselves to prevent chronic illness. During the 1960’s and 70’s, Civil Rights leaders and members of the Black Panther Party, like Erika Huggins (pictured above), used self-care and community care as revolutionary acts to oppose systems that were designed to extract from and destruct Black life. They recognized that systemic racism was embedded in the medical system and marginalized bodies needed to educate themselves and be their own saviors if they were going to live. Due to their mistrust in the medical field, they opened free community health clinics, went door to door in Black neighborhoods to screen for diseases like Sickle Cell, distributed food to those in need, and even sent advocates with Black patients to make sure they were getting proper care from doctors. The Black Panthers understood that preventative measures were key to health and wellness.

Recently, photos have surfaced of Civil Rights activists like Rosa Parks (below), practicing yoga and meditation. This is a stark contrast to the images we have been exposed to that primarily highlight the struggle. In a culture where Black women are expected to be strong, magic, and extraordinary, despite the forces working against us, it is important to remember that our ancestors and elders that overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles, likely only did so by practicing some form of self-care. Activists learned that the fight for social justice was a marathon and if they were going to combat burn out, trauma, and stress, they needed to proactively and intentionally protect themselves.

As self-care became more popularized in the 2000’s as it was used to address post-traumatic stress disorder following the September 11 terrorist attacks, the term officially became mainstream. As the story typically goes, the practice was co-opted by the dominant culture and thus, reshaped to emphasize self-indulgence and luxury. While self-care can include luxury, it should be accessible to all, particularly marginalized groups that continue to face oppression daily.

In the last 5-7 years, the pendulum has started to swing back in the other direction as Black activists and mental health professionals have urged Black folks to practice self-care as the political climate has emboldened white supremacists, viral videos of police brutality has become a regular occurrence, and finally as the Covid-19 pandemic hit and further exacerbated existing racial health disparities. Given the current state of our political climate, economy, health disparities, and collective mental health, we are once again at an impasse where we must heed the wisdom of our elders and get back to the basic necessity of self-care to ensure our survival and equip future generations with tools to do the same. Despite the mixed messages and representations of what self-care means, it is imperative that marginalized communities reconnect to its original intention of using self-care as a way to preserve one’s self and ignore the noise that tells them otherwise.