March continues as Women's History Month. This week's Beverly Review includes a feature on La Julia Rhea, a Black opera singer of exceptional talent who lived in Blue Island.
Her career spanned the 1930s and 1940s. Although her voice was acknowledged as amazing, she was denied opportunites due to her race; plus, no recordings of her voice have been found. Not many people are familiar with her.
The article can be found online today at: https://www.beverlyreview.net/eedition/page_73fee2c1-47ca-5765-a156-b4f6b99fe0da.html and is out in print tomorrow.
Rhea did break two race barriers that laid the groundwork to help other Black singers.
Rhea was the first Black woman allowed to audition for the Metropolitan Opera Capmpany in New York, and although the audition went very well, she was told “there is no chance for a colored singer to appear at the Metropolitan."
She also broke the race barrier at the Chicago Lyric Opera, where she sang the lead in "Aida," her signature role, for a special benefit performance. It was a one-time event and she was not invited back.
The family moved to Blue Island in the 1950s, restoring an old farmhouse into a "fairy tale creation." She died in Blue Island at the age of 94 in 1992.
This photo by Bob Fila of the Chicago Tribune shows La Julia Rhea in her home in Blue Island in 1986.