The Unaccepted Artists: Martha Graham, Tubman and McClintock

Martha Graham became interested in movement as her father, George Graham, was a doctor who treated nervous disorders. Martha often wondered if and how movement could express one’s deepest emotions. Although her parents tried to persuade her to not join a dance school, she eventually enrolled at the Denishawn School of Dancing. Her performance as an emotional Aztec woman named Xochitl garnered critical acclaim. Martha was encouraged to incorporate new and unusual movements when choreographing pieces in her own dance company. Her attention to detail and her affinity for rhythm inspired her to take a bold risk and venture into unknown territory. Her interest in different cultures encouraged her to incorporate different movements into her dances. Although critics initially disliked her choreographed performances, finding them strange and inappropriate, they soon came to appreciate and later laud her brilliance. As her Graham technique is still taught around the world today, Martha Graham’s passion displays how her curiosity fed her imagination.

Harriet Tubman was twelve years old when she attempted to help a fugitive slave escape. She blocked his overseer from seeing him, and the overseer flung a stone that hit Harriet instead of the runaway slave. As she was recuperating from the headache, Harriet claimed she was receiving religious visions which gave her purpose and strengthened her faith. When her husband John later threatened to sell her, Harriet and her brothers escaped. Although her brothers turned back, Harriet persevered and followed the Underground Railroad to freedom in Pennsylvania. Tubman later went back to rescue her niece and her children, and even her husband. Even when she escaped to Pennsylvania and had a chance to restart her life, she selflessly went back multiple times to her old plantation to rescue her family despite the great danger. Her ingenuity and leadership as she led more slaves to freedom demonstrates she is the embodiment of compassion and courage.

Barbara McClintock was not allowed to major in genetics at Cornell, but she didn’t let that stop her. She joined a small group of researchers who studied maize. McClintock was fascinated by maize plant genetics and especially so with reproduction in plants and mutations that arise within them. McClintock examined how genes would “move” around during cross breeding. In the 1950’s McClintock found strong evidence indicating that genes were like switches for physical characteristics, such as affecting the individual kernels of maize. Her theories about genetic information expression received a lot of negative feedback at first, as they contrasted sharply with what was known about genetics at the time. However, by continuing her research, she eventually received funding and published her data, and later received the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1983. McClintock persisted in her efforts to pursue her interests despite opposition, and and ultimately emerged triumphant.