Post 3

Before Dr. King Jr. 
 
Katherine Dunham was an activist. She supported black people and their equal rights. Visiting Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad, and several other places she displayed the beauty of the black culture and dance on stage. Dunham had been studying and creating her new art form all over the world, until her and The Katherine Dunham Company were subject to several acts of discrimination. 
Before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream about blacks and whites uniting as equals, there was Katherine Dunham. Dunham was experiencing hate crimes and spoke up for her people and their equal rights. In October 1944, Dunham addressed the audience in Louisville, Kentucky and announced that she would not be returning until the city desegregated its theaters.  When she and her company visited these segregated towns, they would only allow fair colored skin people in. If you remember, Dunham’s husband was white, and in 1950 she sued the Esplanada Hotel for refusing to room her without her husband because of the color of her skin.  
This enraged Dunham. She was aware of discrimination and the social justice issues all around her and decided to take action the best way she knew she could. Unlike Dr. King Jr, Dunham had her own way of being a part of the solution, she took it to the stage. Southland is a piece created by Dunham that was inspired by many of the events that happened during her time. Her pieces moved her audience, made them aware, and inspired them to see blacks as beautiful people instead of the typical stereotype.  
 
https://youtu.be/tXkm7pNGzuc 

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