Katherine Dunham as a Social Activist

Credit: Library of Congress

Katherine Dunham grew as a social activist by bringing awareness to racial discrimination, espacially in the world of performing arts. She explains how no one should feel entitled to have more power over another simply based on the color of their skin. So, she enforces this throughout her dancing career. For example, certain individuals had been unable to enter a play because they weren’t white which she thought was outrageous. Joanna De Das, author of Katherine Dunham; Dance and the African Diaspora, mentions that  she “threatened to cancel the performance if he did not immediately allow black patrons into the white section,” which shows Katherine’s determination to create a less divided world. In the book it mentions that she “read a speech in which she announced that she would not return to the theater until it integrated” which made national headlines.