A. C. Bilbrew on stage (center) with six other women. Madame A. C. Bilbrew was the director of the first black choir featured in a film, 1928's Hearts of Dixie, which also happened to be the first black "talkie." She was also a pioneer in radio, becoming the first African American soloist on the radio in 1923, and later, the first African American to have and host a show in 1942. She was a cast member of the movie The Foxes of Harrow in 1947. Bilbrew was a champion of women's rights and childhood literacy; she was a community leader, musician, poet, and deputy to Kenneth Hahn (County Supervisor) A Los Angeles branch library is named after her. Group portrait of twelve civic leaders of the Los Angeles African American community at Power Plant No. One of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in San Francisquito Canyon above the site of the St. Francis Dam (twelve months before the disastrous collapse of the dam). Stamp on back of photo: please credit Harry H. Adams, 4223 So. Avalon Blvd. AD 2-9497, Los Angeles, Calif; DEC 4 - 1961
Type
image
Identifier
uclalsc_1889_b06_f12_002a.tif ark:/21198/z1tq7jmx
Subject
African American women singers African American women musicians African American choir directors Bilbrew, A. C. (Alice C.), 1891-1972
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