Women’s History Month featuring the Hyers Sisters
This Women’s History Month, explore Post Civil War America from the perspective of two legendary Opera divas and originators of the American Musical with TeachRock’s new lesson, “Early Reconstruction featuring the Hyers Sisters”.
Located in unit 1 of our new A People’s Playlist High School U.S. History course, in the lesson you’ll discover who the Hyers sisters were and identify how their musical work is representative of the African American experience during the Reconstruction era. The lesson features embedded videos about the Hyers sisters and numerous primary sources from the age of Reconstruction, providing a uniquely powerful classroom experience when investigating this consequential time in U.S history. Check out two examples of the lesson’s materials below.
TeachRock’s A People’s Playlist: U.S. History with Music as a Primary Source is being developed in partnership with the Library of Congress and we will be publishing more units through 2026. Stay tuned!
A poster in the lesson promoting the Hyers sisters first production, Out of Bondage.
A video from the lesson detailing how the Hyers sisters’ theatrical innovations produced what we now know as “the musical”.
Read this short bio to learn more about the Hyers sisters:
The Hyers Sisters
Born in Sacramento, California, in the 1850s, Anna and Emma Hyers grew up immersed in the city’s African American activist community. They began vocal lessons early, leading to a debut performance at Sacramento’s Metropolitan Theatre. From there, they toured with their father/manager throughout the United States, becoming both the first African Americans and the first women to be part of the illustrious Redpath Lyceum touring circuit. Through their touring, the Hyers Sisters became two of the most famous opera singers of their time.
Their fame soon reached across the Atlantic, and the Hyers sisters were given the opportunity to perform in some of the most famous Opera halls in Europe. But the Hyers Sisters turned down their invitation to Europe. No doubt inspired by the activist roots of their hometown, and confronted with the end of Reconstruction and the birth of the Jim Crow era, the Hyers Sisters felt it was more important to become advocates for Black music and humanity at home.
Working with writer Joseph Bradford, the Hyers Sisters premiered their first original show: Out of Bondage, which told the tale of a family who moved from slavery in the South to Emancipation and freedom in the North. The play had at the time an unconventional approach: mixing spoken dialogue with songs, many of which were pre-existing and popular at the time. Through this approach, the Hyers sisters are widely recognized for inventing the modern American musical.