A. C. Bilbrew
American poet

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, the daughter of Rev. H.S. Harris. Her initials were her given name; she was named for two nuns whom her mother had liked. She attended Texas College in Tyler, and studied music at the University of Southern California.
Career
Bilbrew was active in many ways with performing arts in the African-American community of South Los Angeles.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “A. C. Bilbrew” as american poet. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q61727737. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1891, 1972 and 1923.
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This entry incorporates text from “A. C. Bilbrew” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.