[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 66 (Wednesday, May 24, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E950]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    A TRIBUTE TO KATHERINE DUNHAM, WORLD-RENOWNED DANCER, PIONEER, 
   CHOREOGRAPHER, SOCIAL ACTIVIST, ANTHROPOLOGIST, AND MUSEUM FOUNDER

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. WM. LACY CLAY

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 24, 2006

  Mr. CLAY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a great 
American--world-renowned dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, social 
activist, and museum founder, Katherine Mary Dunham. Called ``Miss 
Dunham'' by many, she dedicated her life to celebrating the vibrant 
African-Caribbean roots and influences on dance and helped shine the 
light of the world on the unique dance forms and rituals of the African 
Diaspora. A pioneer and founder of the anthropological dance movement, 
Miss Dunham created the Dunham Technique and showed the world that 
African American heritage is rich and beautiful.
  Upon her death on Sunday, May 21, 2006, Miss Dunham had lived a 
vibrant, creative, and revolutionary 96 years. While she may have died 
in her New York City apartment, her heart longed for a return to the 
Midwest where she had established the Katherine Dunham Museum and 
Children's School in East St. Louis, IL, and where she cultivated 
generations of dancers, musicians and other artists throughout the 
region.
  Her ties to St. Louis, MO, and East St. Louis, IL, began in earnest 
in 1967 when she joined the faculty of Southern Illinois University 
Edwardsville. Thus began a legacy that continues to this day; which 
includes the Katherine Dunham Center, the Katherine Dunham Dynamic 
Museum and creation of a dance anthropology program. Later, the college 
would rename its East St. Louis Center the Katherine Dunham Centers for 
Arts and Humanities and name its communications arts building after 
Miss Dunham.
  Born in Chicago, IL in 1909, Miss Dunham studied dance in her early 
teens and would later become one of the first African Americans to 
attend the University of Chicago where she earned her bachelor, masters 
and doctoral degrees in social anthropology. Using a Rosenwald 
Fellowship, she traveled and completed groundbreaking work on Caribbean 
and Brazilian dance anthropology as a new academic discipline. Later, 
she was hired as dance director for Chicago's Federal Theatre Project. 
In 1931 Miss Dunham established her first dance school in Chicago, 
called the Negro Dance Group. By 1934 her dance career included both 
American and European theater in musicals, operas and cabarets 
throughout the world.

  She danced on Broadway and with Les Ballet Negre, the first black 
ballet company in the United States. Her film career included ``Stormy 
Weather'' and ``Cabin in the Sky,'' which she co-choreographed with 
George Balanchine. In New York she founded the Katherine Dunham School 
of Arts and Research dance school and a touring company--The Katherine 
Dunham Troupe. From the late 1930s through the 1940s the dance troupe 
won critical acclaim while performing in more than 100 original works 
choreographed by Miss Dunham. Her specific style for teaching dance is 
still used throughout the world.
  Miss Dunham bravely used her fame to call public attention to social 
injustices both at home and abroad. During World War II, she 
successfully filed lawsuits against hotels that practiced racial 
discrimination. In her later years, a 47-day hunger strike by the 82-
year-old Miss Dunham in 1993 helped focus attention on the plight of 
Haiti.
  Miss Dunham's intellectual, artistic and humanitarian contributions 
have earned her at least 10 honorary doctorate degrees, along with many 
coveted awards, including the Presidential Medal of Arts, the Kennedy 
Center Honors, French Legion of Honor, Southern Cross of Brazil, Grand 
Cross of Haiti, NAACP Lifetime Achievement Award, Lincoln Academy 
Laureate, the Urban Leagues' Lifetime Achievement Award, the Women's 
International Center's Living Legacy Award and the St. Louis Walk of 
Fame.
  Miss Dunham recounted her life and artistic experiences in eight 
books, including her autobiography ``A Touch of Innocence.'' Her 
ground-breaking work in every aspect of dance, theater, music and 
education has been immortalized in the Library of Congress, where a 
collection of at least 1,694 items in a variety of video/motion picture 
formats has been preserved as part of the Katherine Dunham Collection.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge members of Congress to join me in honoring the 
life of Katherine Dunham. Through dance, science and artistic 
expression, Miss Dunham worked tirelessly, encouraging all humanity to 
abandon the depths of despair in their lives and to drink robustly from 
the well of hope--through art.

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