Katherine Dunham

Katherine Dunham was born on June 22, 1909, in Chicago.^[1] Her father Albert was a descendant of enslaved people taken from Madagascar and West Africa.^[3] Her mother, Fanny June, was French Canadian.^[3] She had an older brother named Albert Jr.^[1][2] Her mother died when Dunham was four years old.^[2] She and her brother went to go live with their aunt, Lulu.^[2] Her father married Annette Poindexter in 1915.^[2] Dunham and her brother returned to live with their father and stepmother.^[2] Dunham later went to the University of Chicago.^[1]

Katherine Dunham was best known for her work as a dancer. Her church ran out of money when she was eight years old.^[1] She performed a cabaret to raise money.^[1]

Dunham was a student of Ludmilla Speranzeva.^[1] She later founded one of the first all-black ballet companies “Ballet Négre”.^[1] In 1933 she ran her first school, the Negro Dance Group.^[1] While performing with her company, she was found by dance teacher Ms. Alfred. Ms. Alfred saw her talent. She gave her the money to go to the Caribbean in 1935.^[1] When Dunham returned, she brought back the Afro-Caribbean style of dancing.^[1] She mixed the Afro-Caribbean style with European styles to make the Dunham Technique.^[1] People of all races found her work to be inspiring.^[1] Katherine Dunham worked with George Balanchine for the production of “Cabin in the Sky” in 1940.^[1] In 1944 she founded the “Dunham School”. There, she taught the Dunham Technique and anthropology to students. The “Dunham School” was later named the “Katherine Dunham School of Arts and Research.”^[1] She later creates a new dance group called “Katherine Dunham Dance Group”. They toured 57 different countries for 2 decades.^[1] In 1971 Dunham won the “Dance Division Heritage Award”.^[2] She continued to perform her ballets and teach.

Katherine Dunham wrote many books. She began her writing career at 13. Her first story was “Come Back to Arizona”.^[1][2] It was published in W.E.B. Du Buois' magazine, The Brownies' Book.^[2] She later wrote magazines from the Caribbean. Dunahm also wrote “Kasanabce: A Fantasy”.^[2] She also choreographed for many shows. These shows included “Tropics”, “Le Jazz ‘Hot’”, “Cabin in the Sky”, “Windy city” and “Aida.”^[1][2] Her movies included “Mambo” and “Carnival of Rhythm.”^[2] Katherine Dunham also choreographed for Broadway. She choreographed for Pins and Needles.^[2]

Dunham was an Anthropologist. She began by going to a talk by Robert Redfield.^[2] She found it interesting. Her major was anthropology.^[2] Dunham then went to the Caribbean. She loved it there. When she returned, she changed her major to dance anthropology.^[1] Katherine Dunham then started a dance anthropology school called “Dunham School of Arts and Cultural Studies”.^[1]

Katherine Dunham fought for what she thought was right. She refused to preform at segregated theaters. In 1992 she went on a hunger strike. She was fighting for Haitian immigrants. She went on hunger strike for 47 days when Hatian refugees to the United States were sent back to Haiti.^[1] In 1993 Katherine Dunham got a Haitian citizenship.

Katherine Dunham died on May 12 2006^[1]