History Professor Publishes “Organizational Barriers to Black Ballet”

 About the Article

The article investigates the relative absence of African American ballet dancers and the field’s slow integration, countering scarcity theories—not enough interest, money, or opportunities—demonstrating a demand for ballet in postwar black communities. 

Read the full piece here.

About Dr. Brown

Lauren Brown, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of History at Marymount Manhattan College in the Department of History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies. A Jacob K. Javits Fellow, a Joint Fellow at the Smithsonian National Museums of American Art and American History, and a Fulbright Scholar at the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow, she earned her A.B. from Smith College in American Studies and Dance, and her A.M. and Ph.D. from Harvard University in History. She is currently at work on a manuscript, Cultural Czars, focused on dance and Cold War arts funding, which explores the political power of the arts, how perceptions of something or someone as American have changed in the context of globalization, and how nationalism is read onto physical bodies and their movement. Her research interests include twentieth century cultural and diplomatic history, transnationalism and national identity, cultural consumption, ethnicity and the body, and the arts.

Congratulations, Professor!

Published: February 11, 2019