A. C. Bilbrew playing a piano. 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.
Type
image
Identifier
uclalsc_1889_b06_f12_001.tif ark:/21198/z1zg8979
Subject
African American women singers African American women musicians Bilbrew, A. C. (Alice C.), 1891-1972
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