Leading Ladies

Five Things to Know About Katherine Dunham

1. Between her time of being a student at the University of Chicago and travel fellowships to the Caribbean, she received a bachelor’s degree, Ph. B, and bachelor of philsophy with her principal area of study in Social Anthropology in the Spring of 1936.

2. Known as an important dancer and activist during her lifetime, she is known as the “Matriarch and Queen Mother of Black Dance.”

3. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers in African-American and European theater of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. 

4. In 1945, Dunham opened and directed the Katherine Dunham School of Dance and Theater near Times Square in New York City. Her dance company was provided with rent-free studio space for three years by an admirer and devoted patron; it had an initial enrollment of 350 students.

5. A few famous actors attended her school included James Dean, Gregory Peck, Shelley Winters, Sidney Poiter, Shirley MacLaine and Warren Beatty practiced at her dance studio.