Katherine Mary Dunham was a legendary dancer and choreographer who is best known for her innovations and unique interpretation of African-American dance styles in the 20th century. She also carried the titles anthropologist, author, social activist, and educator, all of which she got due to her passion for dance.

Kaye Dunn, as she was also known as, was born on the 22nd of June, 1909 to an African-American father, Albert Dunham, and a French-Canadian mother, Fanny Taylor. She had an older brother, Albert Jnr, and the four lived in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. When her mother died three years after she was born, her father remarried and they moved to a new neighborhood in Joliet, Illinois.

Katherine graduated from high school in 1928, and then joined Joliet Junior College. Since she never thought about dancing as a career, she joined the University of Chicago, where her brother was attending, and majored in Anthropology. This choice proved life-changing, as her time at the university, coupled with the major that she was taking, greatly influenced her dancing career (Aschenbrenner, 53).