A. C. Bilbrew Explained

A. C. Bilbrew
Birth Date:12 March 1891
Birth Place:Washington, Arkansas, U.S.
Death Place:Los Angeles, California
Other Names:Madame Bilbrew, A. C. Harris Bilbrew, Aycee Bilbrew, Alice Caldonia Harris
Occupation:radio host, composer, choir director
Spouse:Ralph Bilbrew
Known For:"The Bronze Hour" radio program (1940s)
Relatives:Kitty White (daughter)

A. C. Harris Bilbrew (March 12, 1891  - June 4, 1972) was an American poet, musician, composer, playwright, clubwoman, and radio personality known as Madame A. C. Bilbrew. She lived in South Los Angeles. In 1923, she became the first black soloist to sing on a Los Angeles radio program. She also hosted the city's first African-American radio music program, The Gold Hour, in the early 1940s. The A. C. Bilbrew branch of the LA County Library in Willowbrook was named in her honor.

Early life

A. C. Harris was from Tyler, Texas,[1] the daughter of Rev. H. S. Harris.[2] [3] [4] Her initials were her given name; she was named for two nuns whom her mother had liked. She attended Texas College in Tyler,[5] [6] and studied music at the University of Southern California.[7]

Career

Bilbrew was active in many ways with performing arts in the African-American community of South Los Angeles.[8] She played church organ,[9] produced pageants and plays, gave dramatic readings,[10] accompanied a jubilee quartet,[11] [12] and directed choirs. In 1923 she became the first black soloist to sing on a Los Angeles radio program.[13] In the 1930s she performed "pianologues" and led a musical sextet.[14]

She was the host of the city's first African-American radio music program, The Gold Hour, broadcast on KGFJ from 1940 to 1942,[13] and was also the announcer on The Bronze Hour, which she produced with Gilbert W. Lindsay.[15] [16] Her on-air guests included California governor Culbert Olson in 1942.[17] She also performed on a tour of the eastern United States in the 1940s.[18] She was a popular speaker in church and women's groups into the late 1960s,[19] and was known as "Madame Bilbrew" in the community.[20] [21]

Poet and songwriter

Bilbrew wrote poems and songs, including the wartime poem "The Black Boys in Khaki" (1919),[22] and songs "Black Boys of Uncle Sam" (1918),[23]

Notes and References

  1. "Hollywood Artist, On U. S. Tour, Visits Tyler" The Chicago Defender (December 26, 1942): 2. via ProQuest
  2. Bessie M. Gant, "Bess Dedicates Column to 'Sweetheart of L. A.'" Pittsburgh Courier (November 21, 1942): 11. via Newspapers.com
  3. Douglas Flamming, Bound for Freedom: Black Los Angeles in Jim Crow America (University of California Press 2006): 72-73.
  4. https://archive.org/details/la_caleagle_reel46/page/n55?q=Bilbrew "Prominent Churchwoman, Mrs. Clara Simpson, Dies"
  5. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28408629/a_c_bilbrew_1963/ "Workshop Founder to Speak"
  6. "West Coast to Get Mammoth Stage Production in Fall" Chicago Defender (November 20, 1948): 17. via ProQuest
  7. https://books.google.com/books?id=ypw4AAAAMAAJ&lpg=PA275 Circular of Information
  8. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28408272/a_c_bilbrew_1941/ "Dixie Singers Will Perform at Park Bowl"
  9. Catherine Parsons Smith, Making Music in Los Angeles: Transforming the Popular (University of California Press 2007): 174.
  10. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH19161003.2.443&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1 "L. A. Banker Talks to Advertising Men"
  11. Mark Sebastian Jordan, "Follow-up: From the Maplehurst murder to Hollywood" Knox Pages (December 22, 2018).
  12. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8067869/ethel_cushman_makes_the_paper_2x01_mar/ "Club Women Hold Dinner Program Featuring South"
  13. Wanda Coleman, Native in a Strange Land: Trials and Tremors (David R. Godine Publisher 1996): 169.
  14. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28400505/a_c_bilbrew_1933/ "First Negro Concert Set for Tuesday"
  15. City of Los Angeles Planning Commission, Draft 52nd Place Tifal Brothers Tract HPOZ Preservation Plan (September 11, 2014).
  16. https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1949/1949-10-24-BC.pdf "Negro Woman's Program"
  17. https://archive.org/details/la_caleagle_reel24/page/n623?q=Bilbrew "Olson Attacks Prejudice"
  18. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28408320/a_c_bilbrew_1946/ "Mme. Bilbrew Back on Coast"
  19. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28408819/a_c_bilbrew_1967/ "Women's Day to be Held at Calvary C. M. E."
  20. Willie Middlebrook, "Madame Bilbrew" (1974), Los Angeles County Arts Commission.
  21. [Vince Proby|Vincent Proby]
  22. Delilah Leontium Beasley, The Negro Trail Blazers of California (Times Mirror 1919): 307.
  23. https://books.google.com/books?id=ojJjAAAAIAAJ&lpg=PA767 Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions, Part 3
  24. William H. Wiggins Jr., O Freedom!: Afro-American Emancipation Celebrations (University of Tennessee Press 1990): 89.
  25. The Ramparts, "The Death of Emmett Till" (Dootone Records 1955).
  26. Brian Berger, "Scatman Crothers" HiLoBrow (May 23, 2012).
  27. http://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn83045120/1955-12-31/ed-1/seq-1/ "Ballad of Emmett Till Released by Record Firm"
  28. https://books.google.com/books?id=tzghAQAAIAAJ&lpg=PA360 Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series
  29. Mel Watkins, Stepin Fetchit: The Life and Times of Lincoln Perry (Knopf Doubleday 2006): 72-73.
  30. News: Shooting Begun on 'Hearts in Dixie'. California Eagle. November 30, 1928. 8.
  31. https://web.archive.org/web/20190214233318/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bb13ceafe A. C. Bilbrew Filmography
  32. Alan Gevinson, Within Our Gates: Ethnicity in American Feature Films, 1911-1960 (University of California Press 1997): 355.
  33. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28400932/a_c_bilbrew_1958/ "New GOP Campaign Office Opened Here"
  34. https://calisphere.org/item/88ce0800779836f993b265a2d40468a4/ Photograph of A.C. Bilbrew and Kenneth Hahn (1973)
  35. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28408143/a_c_bilbrew_1960/ "Sidetracked"
  36. "She Blames Nikita Khrushchev: Woman's Talk Stymied By Failure of Summit" New Pittsburgh Courier (June 1, 1960): 8. via ProQuest
  37. https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/virtuallibrary/documents/whsfreturned/WHSF_Box_62/WHSF62-09.pdf Independent Voters League of California, Inc., letterhead of letter dated December 7, 1962
  38. Web site: A. C. Bilbrew Library. Los Angeles County Library. February 17, 2019.
  39. https://books.google.com/books?id=VlwcAQAAIAAJ&lpg=PA1322''Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [B<nowiki>] Group 2. Pamphlets, Etc. New Series] (1918): 1322. and "Let's Go, Americans" (1942).[23] She wrote "This is Freedom Day", an anthem for National Freedom Day.[24] In 1955, her choral composition, "The Death of Emmett Till", was performed by Scatman Crothers and the Ramparts and released as a single, with a percentage of the royalties benefiting the NAACP.[25] [26] "I feel strongly that this American folk song will live on and serve a purpose," Bilbrew commented at the time.[27] One of her last songs was a peace anthem, "Let's Lay the Weapons Down and Join Hands" (1969).[28]

    Film

    Bilbrew was also involved in several films. She was the musical arranger and director for the choir that appeared as cotton pickers singing spirituals in the Stepin Fetchit film Hearts in Dixie (1929), considered one of the first talking pictures with an all-black cast.[29] [30] She appeared as "Tante Caleen" in the film The Foxes of Harrow in 1947.[31] [32]

    Politics

    Bilbrew campaigned for Kenneth Hahn for Los Angeles County supervisor in 1952. In 1958, she was named director of a new Republican campaign office opened in South Los Angeles.[33] She was later described by Hahn as the "first Negro woman to sing on radio in Los Angeles, pioneering the opportunity for young people to get into music, stage, radio and television."[34] In 1960, she attended the International Women's Day Jubilee in Copenhagen, part of the 22-member delegation from the United States.[35] [36] By 1962, she was on the advisory board of the Independent Voters League of California.[37] In 1963, she founded the Opportunity Workshop, a community arts, education, and empowerment program in south Los Angeles.

    Personal life and legacy

    A. C. Harris married Ralph Bilbrew, a fellow performer. They had three daughters: Roberta, Kitty Jean, and Maudie Jeannette; all three daughters had musical careers. Kitty Bilbrew was later known as jazz singer Kitty White (1923-2009). A. C. Bilbrew died in 1972, aged 84 years.

    The A. C. Bilbrew branch of the LA County Library, in Willowbrook, was named after her in 1974. It was designed by black architect Vincent J. Proby. This branch houses the African American Resource Center.[38]

    References

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "A. C. Bilbrew".

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