A Touch of Innocence: A Memoir of Childhood
Long before terms like "multiculturalism" and "world music" came into vogue, dancer, choreographer, and University of Chicago-trained anthropologist Katherine Dunham traveled to Africa, the West Indies, and South America, chronicling the spread of Africa-derived dance traditions and creating a multitude of critically acclaimed revues, includingTropicsandLe Jazz Hot. Her choreography was even featured in the 1943 filmStormy Weather. But Dunham's autobiography, written in the late 1950s while she was on a sojourn in Japan, is bittersweet. She was born on June 22, 1909, in Joliet, Illinois, the daughter of a West African-Malagasy father and a light-complexioned mother of French-Canadian-Native American heritage who died when Dunham was an infant.A Touch of Innocencechronicles the first 18 years of Dunham's life: her upbringing with her brother, Albert Jr., in the white suburb of Glen Ellyn; the antagonism of her domineering father; and the experience of being raised by aunts in Chicago while her dad worked as a traveling salesman. From this piercing work, the world-famous dance icon emerges with the all-embracing allure of the everyday aristocracy that the best African American achievers radiate.--Eugene Holley Jr.