The New Black Woman

Black women are in the midst of a revolution, a seismic shift, a radical reformation of thought and action about their health and well-being and the idea of being well. I see the signs everywhere. I see it in the increasing numbers of Black women seeking professional mental health care, walking and exercising regularly, and taking action to address disproportionately high chronic threats to their health like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. The last decade has witnessed a long overdue flowering of Black women’s engagement with self-care and self-love.      

            The legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic has made public discussion of these issues acceptable and urgent. This revolution takes form and shape against a chilling and challenging backdrop. Mass shootings and police violence are now normalized, our healthcare system is broken even as more people gain coverage. Income inequality increases annually. We are grappling with the impact of social media on our psyches and our lives. This revolution is happening even as too many, including myself, feel like our country is experiencing a psychotic break.

            And so, health (both physical and mental), the strength and resilience of our souls and spirits, are subjects that we all own, and that must concern us all. This revolution is creating a new type of Black woman. I call her The New Black Woman. She is twenty-three, forty-five, and seventy. And she is the inheritor of a decade or more of activism, scholarship, research, community, and public discourse about the challenges Black women face in maintaining health and vibrant spirits.

            Today’s New Black Woman listened when Michelle Obama initiated a national discussion about mental health. She has seen the real-life positive effect of meeting head-on health and mental health challenges, leading the way to healing and bringing friends and family along with her. Today’s New Black Woman is pressing to change the American medical system’s generations-old racism, whether it be the issue of Black maternal care or the need to simply hear Black women’s testimony about their health. She is not fearful. She is in charge.

            The health statistics that seem to doom Black women to early death spur today’s New Black Woman to discuss life, living, and dying with family and friends, easily and openly. Today’s New Black Woman takes time and makes time for herself without apology or the need to explain or seek permission.

            This book is a meditation on the practices and beliefs about mental and physical health as well as spiritual well-being that have been the foundation of my life for most of my life. This is a book about how each day, I learn anew how to honor myself.

            I honor myself. Honor yourself. That is a radical idea in the Black community. Even against the backdrop of the sexual revolution, feminism, a Black First Lady, A Black female Vice President, Black female astronauts, and Black female surgeons, the idea that Black women have the right and the duty to honor themselves remains incomprehensible to many men and women in our families.

            The three pillars of health for me are a deep and enduring relationship with myself, and my spirit; my “inner Marita,” being willing to say yes to what affirms and celebrates me and no to what can harm me; and treating my body with love, respect, and constant care. So many readers asked me after the publication of The Strong Black Woman to write more about my personal practices. The New Black Woman is my response and my gift to those readers and to you.