Blunden, Jeraldyne
- Dawn Lille
Extract
Blunden, Jeraldyne (10 December 1940–22 November 1999), dancer and choreographer, was born Jeraldyne Kilborn, in Dayton, Ohio, the daughter of Elijah Kilborn, an insurance agent, and Winifred Keith Kilborn, who worked at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Her mother played the piano and her father had an artistic nature, which included writing poetry and soft-shoe dancing. Although Dayton was geographically divided along racial lines at the time, she attended Irving Public School, which was not segregated, and Roosevelt High, which was all white when she entered and fully integrated by the time she graduated. Segregation had never been the official policy of Dayton, and African Americans freely shopped in department stores, although there were no black employees except for cleaning help. Blunden's grandmother was one of the first blacks to build her own home....
