Katherine Dunham: Legendary Dancer, Activist

A dancer, choreographer, activist, and teacher; Katherine Dunham is by far a legendary woman. She was born on June 22, 1909 in Chicago to a French Canadian mother and an African American father. Unfortunately, when Dunham was around the age of four years old, her mother passed away. This caused her to have to live with other family members before permanently moving to Joliet, Illinois where her father worked at the dry cleaning business that he owned. As a child, Dunham always had a knack for dancing and even a love for writing. Surprisingly, Dunham never thought about pursuing a career in dance. Instead, she joined her brother at the University of Chicago where she studied anthropology. Dunham would become the first African American woman to earn a bachelor, masters, and doctoral degree while attending this university. In 1935, while at the University of Chicago as
Throughout her life, Dunham would return to Haiti many times to conduct research, gain inspiration for creativity, and spiritual renewal. She was also very involved with Haiti’s politics. While traveling, Dunham took photos of different communal ceremonies taking place. She would also create film and sound recordings of both music and dance when studying in Haiti. In 1936, she earned her Bachelor’s degree after returning a plentiful amount of ethnographic material from her studies. It is obvious that Katherine Dunham transformed American dance in 1930’s. By studying the foundation and roots of black dance and rituals, she was able to transform them into artistic pieces of choreography. She introduced the use of both ethnic and folk dance and is a prominent founder of the anthropological dance movement. At that time, dance was heavily influenced by Europe, but Dunham was able to create an impact in the dance world by bringing Caribbean and African