Fit Citizens: A History of Black Women's Exercise from Post-Reconstruction to Postwar America

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 th...