Lester Horton Addresses Racism in Chronicle
Although the U.S. Congress passed various bills outlawing lynching in the 1920s and 1930s, the federal government did not take action against mob violence until passage of the 1968 Civil Rights Act. In 1937, Lester Horton created Chronicle, an evening-length work that ended with, “the vicious incitation reminiscent of the unlawful Klan.” A Los Angeles dance critic described “Red-robed Ku Klux Klan-like figures and a tortured victim,” adding that they “danced telling a terrible moment of our history.”
Although the U.S. Congress passed various bills outlawing lynching in the 1920s and 1930s, the federal government did not take action against mob violence until passage of the 1968 Civil Rights Act. In 1937, Lester Horton created <em>Chronicle</em>, an evening-length work that ended with, “the vicious incitation reminiscent of the unlawful Klan.” A Los Angeles dance critic described “Red-robed Ku Klux Klan-like figures and a tortured victim,” adding that they “danced telling a terrible moment of our history.”