Pillar 5 : Sustaining Oneself in the Struggle across History

Pillar 5:

Sustaining Oneself
in the Struggle Historical Perspective

“What I have been doing is giving, giving, giving, and not stopping to retreat and meditate like I should – to come back. If the situation is not changed, I will be a physical and psychological wreck. I have to reorganize my personality and reorient my life. I have been too long in the crowd, too long in the forest.”- Dr. King

 

A History of Self Care and Wellness in the U.S.

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We often do not talk about the need for rest and breaks. Many of the activists we can attribute much of our rights to have dealt with countless instances of mental and physical stress. For example, Dr. Rev Martin Luther King Jr. had struggles with depression, including self-harm as a child. Not to mention federal persecution through the FBI, such as wiretaps, letters suggesting to end one's life, as well as in-person surveillance. To varying degrees, many of our civil rights heroes, both unheard and remembered, have faced similar persecution. 

Because of the context of the mid-20th century, many of the accepted outlets for stress were religion and relationships with others. However, through the Civil Rights movement we see the start of the self-care movement to counter activist burnout. Below we've included a brief history of self-care including its radical roots and role in activism throughout the decades.

1950's

  • Medical Community coins term "self-care" as concept for patients, particularly those institutionalized, to have patient's regain a sense of autonomy in their care through healthy habits - exercising, personal grooming, eating well
  • Term evolves to help professionals in high-stress helping careers (e.g. therapists, nurses, social workers, EMTs) to avoid compassion fatigue and burnout.

1960's

  • The term Wellness is coined as an opposition to illness, by Halbert L. Dunn. 
  • Dr. King highlights the injustices in health care, famously quoted as “Of all the forms of discrimination and inequalities, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhuman.”
  • In response to the systemic racism in health care and social services, the health activism of the Black Panther Party center promotes survival through the creation of community-service programs. They highlight the importance of activist self-care and holistic wellbeing to ensure lasting and sustainable social justice for the marginalized communities they serve.
  • Women's liberation movement criticizes the sexism within institutionalized healthcare. Health care clinics aimed specifically at "Women's needs" begin to open in number to address reproductive health, preventative care, and self-care.

1970's

  • In response to increasing awareness of medical racism, the BPP hosts the Black Community Survival Conference in Oakland, CA and releases the Ten-Point Program, demanding healthcare for all Black and oppressed people and highlighting the role of health in their survival and resilience. This shifts the idea of self-care from a community center initiative to a medical necessity for everyone, becoming an issue of justice-based medical ethics and community access to equitable health care. 
  • The Wellness movement, inspired by Dunn, gains steam as health care professionals are disappointed with traditional Western medicine. This idea of self-care shifts away from just surviving, but towards improving one’s quality of life through the mindset of positive health. The first wellness models, tools, centers, institutes, and conferences are created and proliferate throughout the country, though it's often looked at as strange and cultish.

1980's

  • The idea of holistic fitness and wellness lifestyles is brought into the mainstream as it's commercialized with the narratives of improving oneself and one's productivity, both at work and home. The fitness and spa industries, as well as celebrity wellness and self-help experts, become popular. Workplace wellness programs begin to open across the country.
  • Meditation, Mindfulness, and Yoga as self-care gain greater traction by those seeking to embrace acceptance, curiosity, and a break from the constant drive for efficiency in direct opposition to productivity-centric ideologies of the time.
  • Feminist women of color advocate the dismantling of systems designed to overlook their health and well-being, such as writers bell hooks and Audre Lord. Audre Lord, a black lesbian woman, amplified the intersectionality of self-care and civil rights through her book A Burst of Light: and Other Essays, emphasizing self-reflection and health autonomy as a civic duty. "Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare," (Audre Lord, 1988). 

1990's

  • Due to growing consumerism and increased marketing, self-care is conflated with the pursuit of personal luxuries and possessions, turning ownership into a new benchmark for self-care.

2000's

  • As a reaction to the 9/11 attacks, trauma related care was brought to the forefront and with it a therapy-centered self-care approach to regain resilience and soothe the soul by therapists and psychiatrists. An understanding of collective trauma is gained as both those affected directly and those indirectly is acknowledged.

2010's

  • Self-care goes viral as a nationally-recognized necessity. With the continued rise of mental health awareness and in response to the previous decade's struggles, "self-care" became a widely-adopted and widespread term. A mixture of honest-to-goodness wellness practices and those of affluence, beauty, and physical fitness are prominent. 
  • Self-care also returns to it's activist and political roots as civic unrest explodes around the world with mass protests and civil disobedience. Self-care returns as necessary for combatting burn-out for activists as well as for the mentality of the people during restless times.
  • With independent media becoming increasingly available, those within historically marginalized communities (Women, people of color, LGBTQ, people living with disabilities and mental illnesses) find their space online and share their knowledge and support, with methods of self-care being shared more broadly.

Current Day

Now in the 2020's, the pandemic has provided the opportunity to reconsider the meaning of self-care and the culture that has risen around it. Messages around self-care are trending back towards mindfulness and indulging in downtime, as well as being less focused on perfection. Practicing your own self-care catered to your unique situation to feel mentally, emotionally and physically healthy within the current climate, whatever that looks like, is what is important. While certain types of self-care may offer comfort and distraction, it can also lack the ability to affect the core of our distress. We all could benefit from reflecting on our distress and formulating ways to address it, both alone and in community, next time we need a bit of care.

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Radical Self Care

As part of AFROPUNK's Radical Self Care Week, revolutionary artists and activists were interviewed on how they take care of themselves in these chaotic times.

Angela Davis, known for her decades of activism and scholarship, was a professor in the History of Consciousness and the Feminist Studies departments here at UC Santa Cruz for 15 years until 2008, and is now a distinguished professor emerita.

Moving Forward

Ahead, you will see how John R Lewis engaged in Self Care and promoted access to Health Care for everyone.