The East St. Louis post office now bears the name of legendary choreographer, dancer, author and activist Katherine Dunham.
Congressmen Jerry Costello (D-Ill.) and Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.), who sponsored legislation to rename the building in the U.S. House, attended Monday’s dedication of the Katherine Dunham Post Office Building at 950 Missouri Avenue.
Sens. Barack Obama and Dick Durbin (both D-Ill.) sponsored similar legislation in the Senate.
“Naming the East St. Louis Post Office building for Katherine Dunham recognizes her many achievements,” said East St. Louis Postmaster Dorothy Robertson.
“It is a fitting tribute to the contributions Miss Dunham made to the performing and cultural arts and to our city.”
Dunham moved to East St. Louis to start an innovative cultural center in 1969 when she was world-famous artist, and she always considered it to be one of her spiritual homes.
Dunham once said, “I came to East St. Louis from Africa and found things in such condition that I felt I should stay here if I was going to do something about the business of development of human potential. I didn’t need to run around to other countries of the world. That was right here.”
She died last year at the age of 96.
“Miss Dunham was one of those very rare individuals whose talent, grace, courage and passion transcended race, geography, language and time,” Clay said at the dedication.
“She was, quite simply, a unique American treasure.”