Fit Citizens by Ava Purkiss

Fit Citizens by Ava Purkiss

At the turn of the twentieth century, as African Americans struggled against white social and political oppression, Black women devised novel approaches to the fight for full citizenship. In opposition to white-led efforts to restrict their freedom of movement, Black women used various exercises—calisthenics, gymnastics, athletics, and walking—to demonstrate their physical and moral fitness for citizenship. Black women's participation in the modern exercise movement grew exponentially in the first half of the twentieth century and became entwined with larger campaigns of racial uplift and Black self-determination. Black newspapers, magazines, advice literature, and public health reports all encouraged this emphasis on exercise as a reflection of civic virtue. In the first historical study of Black women's exercise, Ava Purkiss reveals that physical activity was not merely a path to self-improvement but also a means to expand notions of Black citizenship. Through this narrative of national belonging, Purkiss explores how exercise enabled Black women to reimagine Black bodies, health, beauty, and recreation in the twentieth century. Fit Citizens places Black women squarely within the history of American physical fitness and sheds light on how African Americans gave new meaning to the concept of exercising citizenship.

Ava Purkiss is assistant professor of women's and gender studies and American culture at the University of Michigan.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781469672724
ISBN 10	1469672723
Title	Fit Citizens
Author	Ava Purkiss
Series	Gender And American Culture
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	The University of North Carolina Press
Year published	2023-04-11
Number of pages	248
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.