Pearl Primus
Encyclopedia
Pearl Primus was a dancer, choreographer and anthropologist. Primus played an important role in the presentation of African dance to American audiences. Early in her career she saw the needs to promote African dance as an art form worthy of study and performance. Primus’ work was a reaction to myths of savagery and the lack of knowledge about African people. It was an effort to guide the Western world to view African dance as an important and dignified statement about another way of life. Additionally, her work provided a knowledge and meaning for dances that had been plagued by distortion of movement and excessive hip shaking of the backside.
faith. Her maternal grandfather, in particular, was an Ashanti musician from Ghana. When Pearl Primus was two years old she, with her two brothers were brought to New York City where they were reared. Although her parents did not exhibit theatrical tendencies, Primus’ mother had learned the social dances of Trinidad from her grandfather. Primus also had a colorful aunt who sympathized with her decision to embrace dance. When that came, this aunt who dressed in unusually colorful clothing, exclaimed that she would have been shocked had Primus not become an entertainer.
Primus did not set out to be a dancer. When she finished Hunter College High School
, she entered Hunter College
as a pre-medical student majoring in biology. There she was an outstanding athlete in track and field and could run at an award winning pace. Upon graduating in 1940, Primus entered graduate school at New York University
. While there, in pursuit of work to finance her studies, Primus found herself in the employ of National Youth Administration
. Although she was looking for another type of work, she was fortuitously assigned to the NYA dance group as an understudy. She then studied at the New Dance Group
. Her natural abilities made her an excellent dancer and her instructors, who were among the leading modern dance pioneers of that era, recognized her talents and encouraged her to develop them.
Primus’ dance orientation, then, began with experimental choreography in dances that expressed social protest and explored ethnic material. As her interest in dance grew, Primus also studied with the major modern dance pioneers: Martha Graham
, Doris Humphrey
, Charles Weidman
, Hanya Holm
and Louis Horst
.
During this period, Primus combined studies in educational sociology and anthropology with her dance training (not unlike Katherine Dunham
a decade before her) and performances with the choreographers listed above. Among some of her most significant performances was that with Beryl McBurnie
in Antilliana. From McBurnie, Primus learned Afro-Caribbean dance and the folk dances of the Caribbean. Her dancing ability and dramatic presence was noticed during one of thse performances when McBurnie had her dancing a minute part in a Caribbean market scene. Primus obviously performed the piece above and beyond McBunie’s expectations because she was so provocative that she stole the show. Primus, however, was unaware of the audience’s reaction and quietly left after the piece to go to work on her part time job as a riveter.
of the New York Times states that “she was entitled to a company of her own.”
Her next performances began in April 1943, as an entertainer at the famous night club, Cafe Society Downtown, for ten months.
In June 1943, Primus performed at the Negro Freedom Rally at Madison Square Garden
before an audience of 20,000 people.
Primus also choreographed a work to Langston Hughes
's famous poem, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers
", which was performed at her Broadway debut on October 4, 1944 at the Bealson Theatre.
She then began to study more intensively at the New Dance Group
and became one of their instructors. In the summer of 1944, Primus visited the Deep South to research the culture and dances of Southern blacks. She visited over seventy churches and picked cotton with the sharecroppers.
In December 1943, Primus appeared as a guest artist in Asadata Dafora
’s African Dance Festival at Carnegie Hall
.
In December 1944, Primus, who was primarily a solo artist recruited other dancers and performed in concerts at the Roxy Theatre
. African Ceremonial was rechoreographed for a group performance. At this time, Primus’ African choreography could be termed interpretive, based on research and her imagining of the way in which a piece of African sculpture would move.
In 1946, Primus was invited to appear in the revival of the Broadway production Showboat
choreographed by Helen Tamiris
. Then, she was asked to choreograph a Broadway production called Calypso whose title became Caribbean Carnival. She also appeared at the Chicago Theatre
in the 1947 revival of the Emperor Jones
in the ‘’’Witch Doctor’’’ role that Hemsley Winfield
made famous.
Following this show and many subsequent recitals, Primus toured the nation with a company she formed. While on the university and college circuit, Primus performed at Fisk University
in 1948, where Dr. Charles S. Johnson
, a member of Rosenwald Foundation board, was president. He was so impressed with the power of her interpretive African dances that he asked her when she had last visited Africa. She replied that she had never done so. She then received the last and largest ($4000) of the major Rosenwald Fellowships for an eighteen month research and study tour of the Gold Coast, Angola, Cameroons, Liberia, Senegal and the Belgian Congo.
Primus was so well accepted in the communities in her study tour that she was told that the ancestral spirit of an African dancer had manifested in her. The Oni
and people of Ife, Nigeria, felt that she was so much a part of their community that they initiated her into their commonwealth and affectionately conferred on her the title Omowale- the child who has returned home.
The significance of Primus’ African research and choreography lies in her presentation of a dance history which embraces ethnic unity, the establishment of an articulate foundation for influencing future practitioners of African dance, the presentation of African dance forms into a disciplined expression, and the enrichment of American theater through the performance of African dance.
Additionally, Primus and the late Percival Borde, her husband and partner, conducted research with the Liberian Konama Kende Performing Arts Center to establish a performing arts center, and with a Rebekah Harkness Foundation grant to organize and direct dance performances in several counties during the period of 1959 to 1962. Primus and Borde taught African dance artists how to make their indigenous dances theatrically entertaining and acceptable to the western world, and also arranged projects between African countries such as Senegal, Gambia, Guinea and the United States Government to bring touring companies to this country.
Choreography approach and style
Primus’ approach to developing a movement language and to creating dance works parallels that of Graham, Holm, Wiedman, de Mille and others who are considered to be pioneers of American modern dance. These artists searched literature, used music of contemporary composers, glorified regional idiosyncrasies and looked to varied ethnic groups for potential sources of creative material. Primus, however, found her creative impetus in the cultural heritage of the African American. Fusing spirituals, jazz and blues and then coupling these music forms with the literacy works of black writers, Primus’ choereographic voice- though strong-resonated primarily for and to the black people on whose experiences her works were based. Her style, her themes and her body type promoted modern dance among African-Americans. Primus’ strong belief that rich choreographic material lay in abundance in the root experiences of a people has been picked up and echoed in the rhythm and themes of Alvin Ailey
, Donald McKayle
, Talley Beatty
, Dianne McIntyre, Elo Pomare and others.
Primus believed in sound research. Her meticulous search of libraries and museums and her use of living source materials established her as a dance scholar.
In 1944, she interpreted Langston Hughes The Negro Speaks of Rivers (1944), and in 1945 she created Strange Fruit(1945), based on the poem by Lewis Allan about a lynching. Hard Time Blues (1945) is based on a song about sharecroppers by folksinger Josh White
.
Primus married the dancer and choreographer Percival Borde in 1954, and began a collaboration that ended only with his death in 1979. In 1959, the year Primus received an M.A. in education from New York University
, she traveled to Liberia
, where she worked with the National Dance Company there to create Fanga, an interpretation of a traditional Liberian invocation to the earth and sky. In 1978, Primus received a Ph.D. in Dance Education from New York University
. The following year she created Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore(1979), about the 1963 Birmingham, Alabama, church bombing. From 1984 to 1990 Primus served as a professor of ethnic studies, and artist in residence at the Five Colleges
consortium in Massachusetts. Her original dance company eventually grew into the Pearl Primus Dance Language Institute, where her method of blending African-American, Caribbean, and African influences with modern dance and ballet techniques is taught.
. Some also received the first Balasaraswati/ Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival
(1991), the Star of Africa from the Liberian Government, the National Council of Negro Women’s Scroll of Honor- Woman of the Year, the Distinguished Service Award from the Association of American Anthropologist, and many others.
http://www.mamboso.net/primus/summary_2.html. {maintained by Francisco Reyes II]
Early life
Primus was born in Trinidad in 1919 to Edward and Emily (Jackson) Primus. Among her relations were drummers and initiates into the Shango/Spiritual BaptistSpiritual Baptist
The Spiritual Baptists faith is an Afro-Caribbean syncretic religion which combines elements of traditional West African religions with Christianity. The Spiritual Baptist faith originated in St. Vincent....
faith. Her maternal grandfather, in particular, was an Ashanti musician from Ghana. When Pearl Primus was two years old she, with her two brothers were brought to New York City where they were reared. Although her parents did not exhibit theatrical tendencies, Primus’ mother had learned the social dances of Trinidad from her grandfather. Primus also had a colorful aunt who sympathized with her decision to embrace dance. When that came, this aunt who dressed in unusually colorful clothing, exclaimed that she would have been shocked had Primus not become an entertainer.
Primus did not set out to be a dancer. When she finished Hunter College High School
Hunter College High School
Hunter College High School is a New York City secondary school for intellectually gifted students located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. It is administered by Hunter College, a senior college of the City University of New York. Although it is not operated by the New York City Department of...
, she entered Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
as a pre-medical student majoring in biology. There she was an outstanding athlete in track and field and could run at an award winning pace. Upon graduating in 1940, Primus entered graduate school at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
. While there, in pursuit of work to finance her studies, Primus found herself in the employ of National Youth Administration
National Youth Administration
The National Youth Administration was a New Deal agency in the United States that focused on providing work and education for Americans between the ages of 16 and 24. It operated from 1935 to 1939 as part of the Works Progress Administration . Following the passage of the Reorganization Act of...
. Although she was looking for another type of work, she was fortuitously assigned to the NYA dance group as an understudy. She then studied at the New Dance Group
New Dance Group
New Dance Group, or more casually NDG, is a performing arts organization in New York City, USA.-History:New Dance Group was established in 1932 by a group of artists and choreographers dedicated to social change through dance and movement...
. Her natural abilities made her an excellent dancer and her instructors, who were among the leading modern dance pioneers of that era, recognized her talents and encouraged her to develop them.
Primus’ dance orientation, then, began with experimental choreography in dances that expressed social protest and explored ethnic material. As her interest in dance grew, Primus also studied with the major modern dance pioneers: Martha Graham
Martha Graham
Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.She danced and choreographed for over seventy years...
, Doris Humphrey
Doris Humphrey
Doris Batcheller Humphrey was a dancer and choreographer of the early twentieth century. Humphrey was born in Oak Park, Illinois but grew up in Chicago, Illinois. She was the daughter of Horace Buckingham Humphrey and Julia Ellen Wells and was a descendant of pilgrim William Brewster...
, Charles Weidman
Charles Weidman
Charles Weidman is a renowned choreographer, modern dancer and teacher. He is well known as one of the pioneers of Modern Dance in America. He wanted to break free from the traditional movements of dance forms popular at the time to create a uniquely American style of movement...
, Hanya Holm
Hanya Holm
Hanya Holm is known as one of the “Big Four” founders of American modern dance...
and Louis Horst
Louis Horst
Louis Horst was a choreographer, composer, and pianist...
.
During this period, Primus combined studies in educational sociology and anthropology with her dance training (not unlike Katherine Dunham
Katherine Dunham
Katherine Mary Dunham was an American dancer, choreographer, songwriter, author, educator, and activist...
a decade before her) and performances with the choreographers listed above. Among some of her most significant performances was that with Beryl McBurnie
Beryl McBurnie
Beryl McBurnie was a Trinidadian dance legend. She established the Little Carib Theatre, and promoted the culture and arts of Trinidad and Tobago as her life's work. McBurnie helped to promote the cultural legitimacy of Trinidad and Tobago that would ultimately arm its people to handle...
in Antilliana. From McBurnie, Primus learned Afro-Caribbean dance and the folk dances of the Caribbean. Her dancing ability and dramatic presence was noticed during one of thse performances when McBurnie had her dancing a minute part in a Caribbean market scene. Primus obviously performed the piece above and beyond McBunie’s expectations because she was so provocative that she stole the show. Primus, however, was unaware of the audience’s reaction and quietly left after the piece to go to work on her part time job as a riveter.
Career
Primus began to research African dance, “consulting books, articles, and pictures and visiting museums'. After six months, she had completed her first composition, African Ceremonial. It was presented along with Strange Fruit, Rock Daniel, and Hard Time Blues at her debut performance on February 14, 1943 at the 92nd Street YMHA. Her performance was so outstanding that John MartinJohn Martin (dance critic)
John Martin became America’s first major dance critic in 1927. Focusing his efforts on propelling the modern dance movement, he greatly influenced the careers of dancers such as Martha Graham...
of the New York Times states that “she was entitled to a company of her own.”
Her next performances began in April 1943, as an entertainer at the famous night club, Cafe Society Downtown, for ten months.
In June 1943, Primus performed at the Negro Freedom Rally at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
before an audience of 20,000 people.
Primus also choreographed a work to Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...
's famous poem, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
"The Negro Speaks of Rivers" is a poem by American writer Langston Hughes.-Composition and publication history:Langston Hughes wrote the poem on an envelope while traveling by train to Mexico as he crossed the Mississippi River to St. Louis. "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" was first published in The...
", which was performed at her Broadway debut on October 4, 1944 at the Bealson Theatre.
She then began to study more intensively at the New Dance Group
New Dance Group
New Dance Group, or more casually NDG, is a performing arts organization in New York City, USA.-History:New Dance Group was established in 1932 by a group of artists and choreographers dedicated to social change through dance and movement...
and became one of their instructors. In the summer of 1944, Primus visited the Deep South to research the culture and dances of Southern blacks. She visited over seventy churches and picked cotton with the sharecroppers.
In December 1943, Primus appeared as a guest artist in Asadata Dafora
Asadata Dafora
Austin Dafora Horton widely known as Asadata Dafora was a Sierra Leonean multidisciplinary musician. He was one of the first Africans to introduce African drumming music to the United States, beginning in the early 1930s...
’s African Dance Festival at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
.
In December 1944, Primus, who was primarily a solo artist recruited other dancers and performed in concerts at the Roxy Theatre
Roxy Theatre
The Roxy Theatre is located in the historic downtown section of Clarksville, Tennessee in the United States. Standing on a corner of the Public Square it offers live theater shows to the public offering a wide variety of selection in the spirit of literary theater...
. African Ceremonial was rechoreographed for a group performance. At this time, Primus’ African choreography could be termed interpretive, based on research and her imagining of the way in which a piece of African sculpture would move.
In 1946, Primus was invited to appear in the revival of the Broadway production Showboat
Showboat
A showboat, or show boat, was a form of theater that traveled along the waterways of the United States, especially along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers . A showboat was basically a barge that resembled a long, flat-roofed house, and in order to move down the river, it was pushed by a small tugboat...
choreographed by Helen Tamiris
Helen Tamiris
Helen Tamiris was an American choreographer, modern dancer, and teacher.-Biography:A founder of American Modern Dance, Tamiris originally trained in free movement at the Henry Street Settlement. She danced with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and the Bracale Opera Company before studying briefly...
. Then, she was asked to choreograph a Broadway production called Calypso whose title became Caribbean Carnival. She also appeared at the Chicago Theatre
Chicago Theatre
The Chicago Theatre, originally known as the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theatre, is a landmark theater located on North State Street in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. Built in 1921, the Chicago Theatre was the flagship for the Balaban and Katz group of theaters run by A. J. Balaban, his brother...
in the 1947 revival of the Emperor Jones
Emperor Jones
Emperor Jones is a small Austin, Texas based independent record label founded in 1995 by Craig Stewart. It has released albums by acts such as Alastair Galbraith, The American Analog Set, Roky Erickson, Thuja, ST37, The Mountain Goats, Stick Men with Ray Guns, Peter Jefferies, Pip Proud, Rusted...
in the ‘’’Witch Doctor’’’ role that Hemsley Winfield
Hemsley Winfield
Hemsley Winfield was an African-American dancer who together with Edna Guy created the New Negro Art Theater Dance Group.-Early years:...
made famous.
Following this show and many subsequent recitals, Primus toured the nation with a company she formed. While on the university and college circuit, Primus performed at Fisk University
Fisk University
Fisk University is an historically black university founded in 1866 in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. The world-famous Fisk Jubilee Singers started as a group of students who performed to earn enough money to save the school at a critical time of financial shortages. They toured to raise funds to...
in 1948, where Dr. Charles S. Johnson
Charles S. Johnson
Charles Spurgeon Johnson was an American sociologist, first black president of historically black Fisk University, and a lifelong advocate for racial equality and the advancement of civil rights for African Americans and all other ethnic minorities...
, a member of Rosenwald Foundation board, was president. He was so impressed with the power of her interpretive African dances that he asked her when she had last visited Africa. She replied that she had never done so. She then received the last and largest ($4000) of the major Rosenwald Fellowships for an eighteen month research and study tour of the Gold Coast, Angola, Cameroons, Liberia, Senegal and the Belgian Congo.
Primus was so well accepted in the communities in her study tour that she was told that the ancestral spirit of an African dancer had manifested in her. The Oni
Oba (ruler)
Oba is a West African synonym for monarch, one that is usually applied to the Yoruba and Edo rulers of the region. It is also often used by their traditional subjects to refer to other kings and queens, such as Elizabeth I of England, in their native languages.-Edo account of the word's origin:The...
and people of Ife, Nigeria, felt that she was so much a part of their community that they initiated her into their commonwealth and affectionately conferred on her the title Omowale- the child who has returned home.
Pioneer of African dance in the United States
Primus' sojourn to West Africa has proven invaluable to students of African dance. She learned more about African dance, its function and meaning than had any other American before her. She was able to codify the technical details of many of the African dances through the notation system she evolved and was also able to view and to salvage some “still existent gems of dances before they faded into general decadence” (Primus, from the Schomburg Library: Primus File, 1949). She has been unselfish in sharing the knowledge she has gained with others.The significance of Primus’ African research and choreography lies in her presentation of a dance history which embraces ethnic unity, the establishment of an articulate foundation for influencing future practitioners of African dance, the presentation of African dance forms into a disciplined expression, and the enrichment of American theater through the performance of African dance.
Additionally, Primus and the late Percival Borde, her husband and partner, conducted research with the Liberian Konama Kende Performing Arts Center to establish a performing arts center, and with a Rebekah Harkness Foundation grant to organize and direct dance performances in several counties during the period of 1959 to 1962. Primus and Borde taught African dance artists how to make their indigenous dances theatrically entertaining and acceptable to the western world, and also arranged projects between African countries such as Senegal, Gambia, Guinea and the United States Government to bring touring companies to this country.
Choreography approach and style
Primus’ approach to developing a movement language and to creating dance works parallels that of Graham, Holm, Wiedman, de Mille and others who are considered to be pioneers of American modern dance. These artists searched literature, used music of contemporary composers, glorified regional idiosyncrasies and looked to varied ethnic groups for potential sources of creative material. Primus, however, found her creative impetus in the cultural heritage of the African American. Fusing spirituals, jazz and blues and then coupling these music forms with the literacy works of black writers, Primus’ choereographic voice- though strong-resonated primarily for and to the black people on whose experiences her works were based. Her style, her themes and her body type promoted modern dance among African-Americans. Primus’ strong belief that rich choreographic material lay in abundance in the root experiences of a people has been picked up and echoed in the rhythm and themes of Alvin Ailey
Alvin Ailey
Alvin Ailey, Jr. was an American choreographer and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York. Ailey is credited with popularizing modern dance and revolutionizing African-American participation in 20th century concert dance...
, Donald McKayle
Donald McKayle
Donald McKayle is an African American modern dancer, choreographer, teacher, director and writer best known for creating socially conscious concert works during the 1950s and 60s that focus on expressing the human condition and more specifically, the black experience in America...
, Talley Beatty
Talley Beatty
Talley Beatty was born in Cedar Grove, Louisiana, a section of Shreveport, but grew up in Chicago, Illinois. He is considered one of the greatest of African American choreographers, and also bears the titles dancer, educator, and dance company director...
, Dianne McIntyre, Elo Pomare and others.
Primus believed in sound research. Her meticulous search of libraries and museums and her use of living source materials established her as a dance scholar.
Some of her works
Pearl Primus focused on matters such as oppression, racial prejudice, and violence. Her efforts were also subsidized by the United States government who encouraged African-American artistic endeavors.In 1944, she interpreted Langston Hughes The Negro Speaks of Rivers (1944), and in 1945 she created Strange Fruit(1945), based on the poem by Lewis Allan about a lynching. Hard Time Blues (1945) is based on a song about sharecroppers by folksinger Josh White
Josh White
Joshua Daniel White , better known as Josh White, was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor, and civil rights activist. He also recorded under the names "Pinewood Tom" and "Tippy Barton" in the 1930s....
.
Primus married the dancer and choreographer Percival Borde in 1954, and began a collaboration that ended only with his death in 1979. In 1959, the year Primus received an M.A. in education from New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, she traveled to Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
, where she worked with the National Dance Company there to create Fanga, an interpretation of a traditional Liberian invocation to the earth and sky. In 1978, Primus received a Ph.D. in Dance Education from New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
. The following year she created Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore(1979), about the 1963 Birmingham, Alabama, church bombing. From 1984 to 1990 Primus served as a professor of ethnic studies, and artist in residence at the Five Colleges
Five Colleges
Five Colleges may refer to:*Five Colleges *Five Colleges of Ohio* The Claremont Colleges in Claremont, California....
consortium in Massachusetts. Her original dance company eventually grew into the Pearl Primus Dance Language Institute, where her method of blending African-American, Caribbean, and African influences with modern dance and ballet techniques is taught.
Awards
Primus has received numerous awards. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush honored Primus with the National Medal of ArtsNational Medal of Arts
The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts. It is the highest honor conferred to an individual artist on behalf of the people. Honorees are selected by the National Endowment for the...
. Some also received the first Balasaraswati/ Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival
American Dance Festival
The American Dance Festival is a six and four-week school for dance and a six-week summer festival of modern dance performances, currently held at Duke University and the Durham Performing Arts Center in Durham, North Carolina....
(1991), the Star of Africa from the Liberian Government, the National Council of Negro Women’s Scroll of Honor- Woman of the Year, the Distinguished Service Award from the Association of American Anthropologist, and many others.
External links
- http://www.pbs.org/wnet/freetodance/biographies/primus.html/ The Prime of Miss Pearl Primus
- http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.artsvivants.ca/upload/dan/ps_dan_1367u_full.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.artsvivants.ca/fr/dan/mediatheque/photos/photoWindow.asp%3FmediaID%3D286&h=500&w=412&sz=27&tbnid=uuNIP_yXt5G42M::&tbnh=130&tbnw=107&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpearl%2Bprimus&usg=__DuNw7gnhNcsij-nde8WhrrtNpLo=&ei=zsXmSabvCYSltgeLjMWUBg&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=4&ct=image/ Picture of Pearl Primus in Folk Dance (1945)
- Archive footage of Pearl Primus performing Spirituals in 1950 at Jacob's Pillow
- http://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/19/arts/dance-view-pearl-primus-rejoices-in-the-black-tradition.html Article from New York Times: Pearl Primus rejoices in the Black tradition
http://www.mamboso.net/primus/summary_2.html. {maintained by Francisco Reyes II]