Editing Pearl Primus (section)

==Background==

Born in [[Port of Spain]], [[Trinidad and Tobago|Trinidad]], Pearl Primus was two years old when she moved with her parents, Edward Primus and Emily Jackson, to [[New York City]] in 1921.<ref>Gloria Grant Roberson, [http://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/primus-pearl-eileen "Primus, Pearl Eileen"], ''The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives''. Encyclopedia.com.</ref><ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pearl-Primus "Pearl Primus"], ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.</ref> In 1940, Primus received her bachelor's degree from [[Hunter College]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/hunter_college_archives/12640909983/in/album-72157641228480703/|title=Alumni|work=Flickr|access-date=2018-07-31|language=en-us}}</ref> in biology and pre-medical science.  As a graduate student in biology, she realized that her dreams of becoming a medical researcher would be unfulfilled, due to racial discrimination at the time that imposed limitations on jobs in the science field for people of color.  Because of society's limitations, Primus was unable to find a job as a laboratory technician and she could not fund herself through medical school, so she picked up odd jobs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/primus-pearl-1919-1994/|title=Pearl Primus (1919-1994) • BlackPast|last=Mennenga|first=Lacinda|date=2008-06-30|website=BlackPast|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-08}}</ref> Eventually Primus sought help from the [[National Youth Administration]] and they gave her a job working backstage in the wardrobe department for ''America Dances''.  Once a spot became available for a dancer, Primus was hired as an understudy, thus beginning her first theatrical experience. She discovered her innate gift for movement, and she was quickly recognized for her abilities.  Within a year, Primus auditioned and won a scholarship for the [[New Dance Group]], a left-wing school and performance company located on the [[Lower East Side]] of New York City.<ref name=Green>{{cite book|last1=Green|first1=Richard C.|editor1-last=DeFrantz|editor1-first=Thomas F.|title=Dancing Many Drums: Excavations in African American Dance|date=2002|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|location=Madison, Wisconsin|isbn=0299173143|chapter=(Up)Staging the Primitive: Pearl Primus and 'the Negro Problem' in American Dance|chapter-url-access=registration|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/dancingmanydrums00defr}}</ref>