Black Women Artists, Resistance, Image and Representation, 1938-1956
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University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations Dissertations and Theses August 2015 Imaging Her Selves: Black Women Artists, Resistance, Image and Representation, 1938-1956 Heather Zahra Caldwell University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2 Part of the African American Studies Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons, Political History Commons, United States History Commons, Visual Studies Commons, Women's History Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Caldwell, Heather Zahra, "Imaging Her Selves: Black Women Artists, Resistance, Image and Representation, 1938-1956" (2015). Doctoral Dissertations. 350. https://doi.org/10.7275/6679439.0 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/350 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. IMAGING HER SELVES: BLACK WOMEN ARTISTS, RESISTANCE, IMAGE AND REPRESENTATION, 1937-1957 A Dissertation Presented by HEATHER ZAHRA CALDWELL Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2015 Department of Afro-American Studies College of Arts and Humanities © Copyright by Heather Zahra Caldwell 2015 All Rights Reserved IMAGING HER SELVES: BLACK WOMEN ARTISTS, RESISTANCE, IMAGE AND REPRESENTATION, 1937-1957 A Dissertation Presented by H. ZAHRA CALDWELL Approved as to style and content by: ______________________________________________ Ernest Allen, Jr., Chair ______________________________________________ James Smethurst, Member ______________________________________________ Dayo Gore, Member ______________________________________________ John H, Bracey, Chair Department of Afro-American Studies DEDICATION This is dedicated to my light and inspiration Nefer Chinua. I wrote with you growing inside of me, asleep in your crib, and pulling at the keyboard from my lap. If I could have written a dissertation as perfect and awe inspiring as you, I could truly change the world. Thank you for sharing your blinding brilliance with me. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this dissertation was made possible with the support of my committee. It was an incredible group of individuals chaired by Professor Ernest Allen, Jr., and included Dr. James E. Smethurst and Dr. Dayo F. Gore. Each member brought needed expertise and a unique perspective to the process. I was thankful for each one. There were many people who kindly provided interviews over the several years of the project. They include Hazel Scott’s son Adam Clayton Powell III, Katherine Dunham’s daughter Marie-Christine Pratt, the artist Elizabeth Catlett, and Jackie Ormes scholar Nancy Goldstein. I was indeed blessed to access these folks and their memories, memorabilia, understanding, and research. I also must thank the archive staffs at the following institutions whose assistance was invaluable: The Special Collections Research Center staff at Morris Library, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, was remarkable in their level of assistance and guidance; the staff at the Vivian G. Harsh Collection at the Woodson Regional Library in Chicago also provided fantastic assistance; the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum staff at Ohio State University were of great help; and the staff at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture pointed out additional resources during my several visits that would have eluded me, and created a stronger dissertation project as a result. I know that is it customary to first thank the various people and institutions that have assisted in the academic endeavor. This seems wrong somehow. My journey could not have been possible without the support of family and friends. Two special women v deserve singular praise and thanks – my mother, Gene Caldwell, and, my mentor, Dr. Margaret Wade-Lewis. My mother was the true inspiration for my project and is my reason for being. She has been an unpatrolled model of strength and resistance. Academic semantics would do poorly in describing her model of Black womanhood. Dr. Wade Lewis, in life and in spirit, has provided limitless support and encouragement. She has been the true embodiment of a scholar activist. The entire Black Studies Department at the State University of New York at New Paltz, my undergraduate institution, deserves respect and appreciation for any success in my journey. I express my gratitude to elders and mentors who saw my potential as greater than I could see it myself, including Dr. Charshee McIntyre, Dr. James Turner, and Dr. Ronald Walters. How lucky I was to have them in my corner. My circle of sisterfriends aka “the Ladies Salon” supported me through this arduous process: Allia Matta, Rani Varghese, Shelly Perdomo, Hye-Kyung Kang, Cruz Caridad Bueno and Anna Rita Napoleone shared wisdom and love, wiped away tears, read and commented, celebrated successes, and staged needed interventions all while completing their own work. Last, and most importantly, I have nothing but gratitude for my life partner and friend, Deroy Gordon. He has been my number one fan and anchor demonstrating grace, patience, and an unequalled faith in my possibilities and capabilities. African-American women and their ways of being and the history that they create are really what deserve appreciation and acknowledgement. I hope that this dissertation will make a small contribution to that effort. vi ABSTRACT IMAGING HER SELVES: BLACK WOMEN ARTISTS, RESISTANCE, IMAGE AND REPRESENTATION, 1937-1957 MAY 2015 HEATHER ZAHRA CALDWELL B.A., STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT NEW PALTZ M.A., HOWARD UNIVERSITY M.A.T., AMERICAN UNIVERSITY Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by Ernest Allen, Jr. This dissertation focuses specifically on dancer Katherine Dunham (1909-2006), pianist Hazel Scott (1920-1981), cartoonist Jackie Ormes (1911-1985), singer Lena Horne (1917-2010), and graphic artist, painter, and sculptor Elizabeth Catlett (1915- 2012). It explores the artistic, performative, and political resistance deployed by these five African-American women activists, artists, and performers in the period between 1937 and 1957. The principal form of resistance employed by these women was cultural resistance. Using a mixture of archival research, first person interview, biography, as well as other primary and secondary sources, I explore how these women constructed personas, representations, and media images of African-American women to challenge the racialized, reductive constructions found in mainstream white media and fine art outlets. They simultaneously engaged in “off the page” and “off the stage” political activism during eras that were pivotal within the African-American fight for freedom and vii equality. The primary purpose of the dissertation then is to unveil this multi-terrain struggle over Black female agency, equality, image, and representation waged by highly visible African-American artists and performers positioned in popular culture and fine art during this period. I argue that this battle is a fundamental component and sits within the larger long struggle for African-American freedom and equality. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………….…………………..v ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................1 Milieu of Women Activist Artists and Performers ........................................................... 10 A Review of the Literature and a Consideration of Layered Resistance .......................... 11 The Prime Backdrops of the Great Migration ................................................................... 18 Chapter Overview ............................................................................................................. 21 2 "WHOLE NEW VISTAS WERE OPENING" KATHERINE DUNHAM, RACE, GENDER, AND MODERN DANCE ........................................................................23 Beginnings ........................................................................................................................ 30 Dunham the Ethnographer: Fieldwork, Self Discovery, Blackness, and Transnationalism ....................................................................................................... 37 The Return ......................................................................................................................... 43 Le Jazz Hot ........................................................................................................................ 56 Cabin in the Sky, Stormy Weather, and the American Racial Narrative .......................... 61 Southland .......................................................................................................................... 74 3 “COLORED PERFORMERS REPRESENT THEIR PEOPLE”: HAZEL SCOTT AND POPULAR AND PRIVATE RESISTANCE ....................................................78 Harlem Prodigy: “I am in the Presence of a Genius” ....................................................... 81 Ascendancy: “They want to make a little