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,"Hollywood Artist, On U. S. Tour, Visits Tyler" The Chicago Defender (December 26, 1942): 2. the daughter of Rev. H.S. Harris.Bessie M. Gant, "Bess Dedicates Column to 'Sweetheart of L. A.'" Pittsburgh Courier (November 21, 1942): 11. via Newspapers.comDouglas Flamming, Bound for Freedom: Black Los Angeles in Jim Crow America (University of California Press 2006): 72-73. "Prominent Churchwoman, Mrs. Clara Simpson, Dies" California Eagle (March 14, 1957): 7. via Internet Archive Her initials were her given name; she was named for two nuns whom her mother had liked. She attended Texas College in Tyler,"Workshop Founder to Speak" Independent Star-News (October 26, 1968): 5. via Newspapers.com"West Coast to Get Mammoth Stage Production in Fall" Chicago Defender (November 20, 1948): 17. and studied music at the University of Southern California.Circular of Information (University of Southern California 1922): 275.
Career Bilbrew was active in many ways with performing arts in the African-American community of South Los Angeles."Dixie Singers Will Perform at Park Bowl" San Bernardino County Sun (July 28, 1941): 3. via Newspapers.com She played church organ,Catherine Parsons Smith, Making Music in Los Angeles: Transforming the Popular (University of California Press 2007): 174. produced pageants and plays, gave dramatic readings,"L.A. Banker Talks to Advertising Men" Los Angeles Herald (October 3, 1916): 2. via California Digital Newspaper Collection accompanied a jubilee quartet,Mark Sebastian Jordan, "Follow-up: From the Maplehurst murder to Hollywood" Knox Pages (December 22, 2018)."Club Women Hold Dinner Program Featuring South" Covina Argus (March 1, 1935): 6. via Newspapers.com and directed choirs. In 1923 she became the first black soloist to sing on a Los Angeles radio program.Wanda Coleman, Native in a Strange Land: Trials and Tremors (David R. Godine Publisher 1996): 169. In the 1930s she performed "pianologues" and led a musical sextet."First Negro Concert Set for Tuesday" San Bernardino County Sun (November 6, 1933): 3. via Newspapers.com
She was the host of the city's first African-American radio music program, The Gold Hour, broadcast on KGFJ from 1940 to 1942, and was also the announcer on The Bronze Hour, which she produced with Gilbert W. Lindsay.City of Los Angeles Planning Commission, Draft 52nd Place Tifal Brothers Tract HPOZ Preservation Plan (September 11, 2014)."Negro Woman's Program" Broadcasting (October 24, 1949): 57. Her on-air guests included California governor Culbert Olson in 1942."Olson Attacks Prejudice" California Eagle (August 20, 1942): 1. via Internet Archive She also performed on a tour of the eastern United States in the 1940s."Mme. Bilbrew Back on Coast" Pittsburgh Courier (August 10, 1946): 8. via Newspapers.com She was a popular speaker in church and women's groups into the late 1960s,"Women's Day to be Held at Calvary C.M.E." Independent Star-News (May 27, 1967): 4. via Newspapers.com and was known as "Madame Bilbrew" in the community.Willie Middlebrook, "Madame Bilbrew" (1974), Los Angeles County Arts Commission.Vincent Proby, "Untitled" (1974), Public Art Archive.
Poet and songwriter Bilbrew wrote poems and songs, including the wartime poem "The Black Boys in Khaki" (1919),Delilah Leontium Beasley, The Negro Trail Blazers of California (Times Mirror 1919): 307. and songs "Black Boys of Uncle Sam" (1918),Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [B] Group 2. Pamphlets, Etc. New Series (1918): 1322. and "Let's Go, Americans" (1942).Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions, Part 3 (1942): 21202. She wrote "This is Freedom Day", an anthem for National Freedom Day.William H. Wiggins Jr., O Freedom!: Afro-American Emancipation Celebrations (University of Tennessee Press 1990): 89. 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.The Ramparts, "The Death of Emmett Till" (Dootone Records 1955).Brian Berger, "Scatman Crothers" HiLoBrow (May 23, 2012). "I feel strongly that this American folk song will live on and serve a purpose," Bilbrew commented at the time."Ballad of Emmett Till Released by Record Firm" The Carolina Times (December 31, 1955): 1. via North Carolina Newspapers. One of her last songs was a peace anthem, "Let's Lay the Weapons Down and Join Hands" (1969).Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series (January-June 1969): 360.
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.Mel Watkins, Stepin Fetchit: The Life and Times of Lincoln Perry (Knopf Doubleday 2006): 72-73. She appeared as "Tante Caleen" in the film The Foxes of Harrow in 1947.A. C. Bilbrew Filmography, BFI.Alan Gevinson, Within Our Gates: Ethnicity in American Feature Films, 1911-1960 (University of California Press 1997): 355.
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."New GOP Campaign Office Opened Here" Los Angeles Times (May 2, 1958): 25. via Newspapers.com 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."Photograph of A.C. Bilbrew and Kenneth Hahn (1973), County of Los Angeles Public Library History collection, via Calisphere. In 1960, she attended the International Women's Day Jubilee in Copenhagen, part of the 22-member delegation from the United States."Sidetracked" Pittsburgh Courier (June 11, 1960): 8. via Newspapers.com"She Blames Nikita Khrushchev: Woman's Talk Stymied By Failure of Summit" New Pittsburgh Courier (June 1, 1960): 8. By 1962, she was on the advisory board of the Independent Voters League of California.Independent Voters League of California, Inc., letterhead of letter dated December 7, 1962; Nixon Library. 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.
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