Black History Month: Daily Updates

Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) Anthropologist, choreographer, activist

Katherine Dunham was an African-American dancer, choreographer, creator of the Dunham Technique, author, educator, anthropologist, and social activist. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers in African-American and European theater of the 20th century, and She is credited for bringing these Caribbean and African influences to a European-dominated dance world.

Dunham lived in Glen Ellyn, Illinois until the age of three when her widowed father remarried and moved the family to Joliet. Here, the young Katherine began to pursue her interest in dance and performance. Before she graduated high school she had already organized a fundraising cabaret and formed a dance school for young, aspiring Black dancers. When she completed her studies at Joliet Junior College, Dunham went on to the University of Chicago where she formed one of the first African American ballet companies in the U.S. 

Dunham’s academic major, however, was anthropology. Throughout her studies at UChicago (she earned her bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees there) her focus was on the preservation of African traditions in dance. 

Asked about her proposed research, she suddenly decided: “Do you mind if I just show you?” As the astonished committee stared, Dunham slipped off her woolen suit to reveal a leotard and flowing dance skirt; she demonstrated ballet first, then pulsing African dance. The committee voted unanimously to award $2,400 (more than $40,000 in today’s money) to support her fieldwork in the Caribbean. At the recommendation of her mentor Melville Herskovits, PhB’20—a Northwestern University anthropologist and African studies expert—Dunham’s calling cards read both “dancer” and “anthropologist.” (Grace Notes)

In Katherine Dunham: Recovering An Anthropological Legacy, Choreographing Ethnographic Futures, Emily Chin writes that Dunham’s performative anthropology is a kind of “a radical reimagining of what anthropology might be.”

--with contributions from Diana Martinez, the MAC

In their words

“Go within every day and find your inner strength, so that the world will not blow your candle out" 

"When you have faith in something, it's your reason to be alive and to fight for it."

“Be sure that your every breath, every thought, every movement, every deed is being helpful to someone or something. Be sure that you are honest and true.”

Learn more

WATCH: Katherine Dunham - Living St. Louis (26 min)

READ: “Grace notes: Katherine Dunham, PhB’36, forged a unique career as a dancer and anthropologist.” The University of Chicago Magazine, Winter 2016.

LISTEN: “Mentorship from the Great Katherine Dunham” The Memoir My Dad Wouldn't Write podcast (25 min)