Voices for Freedom: The Hyer Sisters’ Legacy Screening & Talk

During the 1870’s and 80’s, at a time when night riders and lynching terrorized African Americans, and blackface minstrels ridiculed them, touring opera artists Anna & Emma Hyers left their success in the opera to oppose the negative imaging of their people by black-face minstrels and changed minds and hearts for 20 years with unique, lovable musicals that celebrated the African-American experience in America from slavery to freedom. These became the first American musicals, the first to use black leading players and the first to integrate casting in mainstream Music Theater.

Join California Historical Society and independent filmmaker Susheel Bibbs for a documentary screening, followed by a short talk, on The Hyers Sisters.