After 80 Years, The Barbershop Harmony Society Will Allow Women To Join

If you're at all familiar with the modern perception of barbershop singing, you might have guessed that one of its leading organizations, the Barbershop Harmony Society, was an all-male — and all-white — organization at the time of its founding in 1938. The organization opened to people of color in 1963, as the country was living within the crucible of the civil rights movement. For 80 years, though, it remained closed to women. Until yesterday.

"Beginning today," the BHS' statement, released June 19, reads, "we welcome women to join the Barbershop Harmony Society as members." Its membership chapters can, however, "choose to stay exactly the same as you are today" welcoming women as members of the barbershop harmony society are compatible ideas."