Gabriella Gladney

Reporting fellow

Published

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Self-care is a bit of a buzzword these days. But for Rosa Parks, it was a deliberate practice and a means of survival in her later years. Long after she refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Parks practiced yoga as a way to support her body and mind. This little-known part of her history is a piece of a bigger picture: Black activists have used self-care as a tool for decades.

After the bus arrest, Parks’ life was changed forever. She became a public figure and “the mother of the civil rights movement,” a title that she never got used to, according to her autobiography, “Rosa Parks: My Story.” She also faced several personal challenges that are often left out of her narrative. Harassment a

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