With Joseph Bradford and Pauline Hopkins, the Hyers Sisters produced the "first full-fledged musical plays... in which African Americans themselves comment on the plight of the slaves and the relief of Emancipation without the disguises of minstrel comedy."

He made sure his daughters received both piano lessons and vocal training with German professor Hugo Sank and later opera singer Josephine D'Ormy[5] and they performed for private parties before making their professional stage debut on April 22, 1867 at Sacramento’s Metropolitan Theater.

[6][7] They were later called "a rare musical treat" by the Daily \Herald of Saint Joseph, Missouri, and earned equal praise in Chicago, Cleveland, and New York City.

They visited Boston, which was known to be extremely critical of new acts, and were also well-received, performing in the 1872 World Peace Jubilee which was one of, if not, the first integrated major musical production in the country.

The Hyers’ family organized a theater company, where they produced musical dramas starring Anna and Emma, including Out of Bondage, written by Joseph Bradford and premiered in 1876, Urlina, the African Princess written by E. S. Getchell and premiered in 1879, The Underground Railway, by Pauline Hopkins in July 1880, and Hopkins' stage version of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in March 1880.