(HYERS, ANNA and EMMA.) Great Musical Drama "Out of Bondage." Only Colored Dramatic Company in the World. Lithographed advertisement; 10 x 8inches; edges appear trimmed; paper evenly tanned. Boston: Armstrong & Co., circa 1877 E350/500 "Black road

(HYERS, ANNA and EMMA.) Great Musical Drama "Out of Bondage." Only Colored Dramatic Company in the World. Lithographed advertisement; 10 x 8inches; edges appear trimmed; paper evenly tanned. Boston: Armstrong & Co., circa 1877 E350/500 "Black road shows had a long tradition, reaching back to at least 1876 when the Hyers Sisters began touring with 'Out of Bondage'."-Eileen Southern. Music of Black Americans, page 294. The Hyers Sisters' Negro Operatic and Dramatic Company of San Francisco, opened the 1877 Boston theater season. The cast featured Sam Lucas, "dean of black theatricals." Joseph Bradford co-wrote this play with the Sisters. It opens during the time of slavery, traces the Negro though emancipation, and ends with his adjustment as a free man. The Hyers Sisters were among the first to enter the concert world following the Civil War. Their joint debut, 1867, was in Sacramento California, their home town. In 1876 they changed their concert com-pany into a comic opera troupe, and were a tremendous success with "Out of Bondage" as one of their greatest triumphs. [SEE ILLUSTRATION]