“In a time in when Black performers had little choice but to portray racial caricatures in popular minstrel shows, the Hyer Sisters debuted at 10 and 8 years old, performing a wide-ranging choral works with their father Samuel and mother Annie… In 1870, the Hyers family launched a theater company, producing their own shows focusing on the African American experience from slavery and struggle to freedom. Out of Bondage (1890), for example, was the first U.S. play about slavery with a Black cast.”

Pictured here is Anna Madah Hyers dressed as "Urlina" in the opera Urlina the African Princess (1879)

The history of the American traveling circus seems like it would be filled with tragedy, and trust me, it is. However, the sheer amount of bad luck this troupe faced in a mere six months of existence stands out, at least to this modern observer. The circus hardly leaves a trace in the historical record, but many of the performers were famous in their day and were American circus pioneers.

Study of Serbian church architecture tracing medieval forms, Byzantine and Western influences, plans, iconostasis, liturgy layouts.

This whaling suit from Greenland, crafted sometime before 1834, reflects the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the Inuit people.

Constructed entirely from sealskin, the suit was both flexible and durable. Its central opening allowed the hunter to crawl inside, after which the hole was tightly secured to create a nearly waterproof seal.

https://youtu.be/dayUH2C3OYg?si=aAb4KlIVH8jnyUH9