A review of her biography
Ruth Beckford’s biography of
Katherine Dunham shows how she was a genuine heroine who introduced African
dance styles to this country
If we listen to the Blues, Rhythm
& Blues, Rock & Roll, Rapp, Jazz, Reggae, or Latin Music, we are
listening to the sounds that originated in Africa. When people listened to African music, they
weren’t doing this sitting down. Ruth
Beckford wrote her 1979, 130 page biography of Katherine Dunham, who was most
responsible for introducing African dance styles to this country.
Katherine Dunham was born in 1909
in Chicago and raised in Joliet Illinois.
Dunham’s father was abusive and determined to prevent his daughter from
dancing. Dunham also had a lifelong
problem with her knees that made it difficult for her to dance. However, Dunham’s determination was strong
and she earned a scholarship to study anthropology at the University of
Chicago.
At the University of Chicago
Dunham continued to study dance and eventually opened her own studio. She applied for a Rosenwald Travel Fellowship
and gave a dance performance for her application. Dunham first gave a sample of ballet, then a
sample of modern dance, and then a sample of African dance. Her performance blew the Rosenwald judges
away, and Dunham won her fellowship to travel to Jamaca, Trinidad, Cuba, Haiti,
and Martinique.
Dunham was most inspired by the
dance of Haiti. Haiti had experienced a
revolution against colonialism and slavery in the 19th century. The Hatian people were proud of the fact that
they maintained many of their African traditions. Dunham studied the dances of Haiti for
several months and eventually would live on the island.
Her studies on these islands led
to the publication of three books: Journey
to Accompong (1946), The Dances of
Haiti (her master’s thesis published in 1947), and Island possessed (1969).
For about 40 years Dunham managed
and performed with her African styled dance troop. These performances took her around the
world. However, Dunham never missed a
chance to protest against the racial injustice.
When she performed in the South,
Jim Crow segregation was the law. This
meant that there was segregated seating for her audiences. Upon entering a southern city, Dunham would
meet with the NAACP or the Urban League in the morning. Then, she would organize a demonstration in
the afternoon against the segregated seating arrangements in the auditorium
where she would perform. If at least one
Black person was not sitting in a white restricted area, Dunham would not
perform.
Dunham even brought a lawsuit in
Sao Paulo, Brazil against discrimination.
This lawsuit prompted the Brazilian President to pass a law that
prohibited discrimination in public places.
In her Negro Dance Troop she
brought the Caribbean dance styles around the world. She performed Negro Dance Evening and Haitian
Suite. In 1939 she opened Tropics and Le Jazz Hot: From Haiti to
Harlem. Folk dances and rhythms were
presented with lavish costumes and a touch of American showbiz. Dunham received her best reviews for Bal Negre, performed in 1946, featuring
the dance “Shango.”
Dunham angered the U.S. State department
with her production Southland that
portrayed lynching in the United States.
Southland would only be performed in Chile and Paris.
In 1967 Dunham decided to end her
forty-year career touring the world with her dance company. She moved to East St. Louis and opened a
dance studio for the people of that city.
On her first day in East St.
Louis, she was recruiting gang members to learn the dance in a program sponsored
by a local university. That day there
was a police round-up, and many of the gang members she hoped to recruit were taken
into police custody. This infuriated
Dunham. She attempted to organize a protest
demonstration and went to the police station herself. The police resented her protest and Dunham
spent the night in jail. Three months
later the Mayor of East St. Louis presented Dunham with the key to the city.
In February of 1992 Dunham, at
the age of 82, went on a 47 day fast in her home in East St. Louis. The elected government of President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide had been overthrown.
Many Haitians fled their homeland in fear of the repression they expected. The Administration of President William
Clinton ordered Haitians seeking asylum to be sent back to Haiti. Dunham only ended her fast when President
Aristide visited her home and asked her to stop.
Dancing is an often neglected
part of our lives. Katherine Dunham
dedicated her life to introducing the world to a style of dance people found
electrifying. While performing her craft
she battled all the political and economic obstacles that stood in her
path. While most people do not know her
name, she was a genuine heroine of our times.
Katherine Dunham – A biography
Copyright 1979 by Ruth Beckford
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Marcel Dekker, Inc.
