Katherine Dunham—dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and activist—died on Sunday, May 21, 2006, at the age of 96. Dunham was born in suburban Chicago and studied anthropology at the University of Chicago. As a graduate student she did field work in the West Indies, an influence which she expressed in many forms, including her dance and her activism.
A dozen years ago we were pleased to reprint Island Possessed, her book about Haiti, as well as A Touch of Innocence, the searing story of her first eighteen years.