A. C. Bilbrew, circa 1964

Title: A. C. Bilbrew, circa 1964
Alternative title: A.C. Bilbrew, community leader, musician, poet, and deputy to Kenneth Hahn (County Supervisor)
Date Created: [circa 1964]
Date: 1964
Collection: Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections

Description: A. C. Bilbrew in a published photograph
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.