Born: 29 November 1919, Trinidad and Tobago
Died: 29 October 1994
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
Rachel Russell on Pearl Primus transcript
The following is republished from the Library of Congress. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Pearl Primus (1919–1994) came to the New Dance Group from a WPA unit, and in 1944 choreographed The Negro Speaks of Rivers, which premiered on Broadway. Based on the 1921 poem by Langston Hughes (1902–1967), a renowned poet who embraced leftist politics, the work traces the heritage of the African American community to four great rivers in the Middle East, Africa, and America. The work explores and protests racial injustice and traces the depths of grief, followed by renewal.