Duster, the HBO Max sequence starring Josh Holloway, Rachel Hilson, and Keith David, is a enjoyable and thrilling romp that explores the efforts of the primary Black girl agent within the FBI to cease against the law boss. Created by J.J. Abrams and LaToya Morgan, Duster incorporates the nostalgia of the Nineteen Seventies and the attract of quick vehicles with an surprising take a look at regulation enforcement historical past.
Hilson performs Nina Hayes, a Black girl who not too long ago graduated from Quantico, who turns into the primary Black feminine FBI particular agent. When Hayes is assigned to take down crime boss Ezra Saxton (Keith David), she finally ends up working with getaway driver Jim Ellis (Josh Holloway) to get her man.
Duster would not cover the racial pressure that existed within the FBI in the course of the Nineteen Seventies. Hayes represents a pioneer within the historical past of American regulation enforcement, one which has a counterpart in actual life. Sylvia Mathis was the primary girl to turn out to be a undercover agent within the FBI in 1976. Mathis’ story solely deepens the authenticity and intrigue of Duster.
Nina Hayes’ Character In ‘Duster’ Is Loosely Based mostly On Particular Agent Sylvia Mathis
Sylvia Mathis graduated from regulation faculty in 1975 and, the next 12 months, arrived on the FBI Academy in Virginia. Mathis had been recruited, a part of an effort throughout the Bureau to vary course within the therapy of ladies after J. Edgar Hoover’s demise in 1972, the 12 months Duster is ready in. The primary feminine brokers had been sworn in as FBI particular brokers simply weeks after Hoover handed away and, when Mathis entered Quantico, there have been solely 41 females among the many 8,500 brokers within the Bureau.
In an interview in February 1976 in Jet, Mathis stated:
I’m all for delving into the relation of defending of rights and enforcement of rights. Going into the FBI appeared like a pure step.
Mathis wasn’t the primary Black girl to attend the FBI Academy. Two others had been unable to finish the coaching previous to her arrival. Identical to Nina Hayes, Mathis was pushed and formidable. Whereas Mathis had “issue within the fitness center and on the vary,” in accordance with a report, she graduated in June 1976.
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Sylvia Mathis Spent Three Years In The FBI
After she obtained her credentials, Sylvia Mathis was assigned to the FBI subject workplace in New York. The FBI web site defined:
On June 2, 1976, FBI Director Clarence Kelley offered Particular Agent Sylvia Mathis together with her badge and credentials, #2658. She was issued a leather-based attaché case, an unadorned purse, and a Smith & Wesson revolver with a snub-nosed barrel brief sufficient to suit contained in the purse.
Identical to her on-screen counterpart, Sylvia Mathis investigated organized crime for the FBI after graduating from Quantico. She reportedly investigated playing and extortion instances and even carried out short-term undercover duties.
In 1978, Mathis was one in all many FBI brokers who interviewed survivors of the Jonestown bloodbath in Guyana. The mass suicide involving some 900 followers of Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple on November 18, 1978, was accompanied by the homicide of Congressman Leo Ryan and his delegation. Mathis was a part of the FBI investigation that adopted the lethal occasions.
Ryan had arrived in Guyana on November 14 and, when he tried to go away 4 days later, a number of members of the cult-like Peoples Temple wished to go away with him. Larry Layton, a follower of Jones, was aboard Ryan’s airplane and opened fireplace, killing Ryan and quite a few others. It is not clear if Mathis went to Guyana or was one of many brokers who interviewed earlier members of the Peoples Temple in the US.
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Sylvia Mathis Left the FBI in 1979 and Died in 1983 in a Deadly Automobile Accident
After leaving the FBI in 1979, Sylvia Mathis labored for the Workplace of Authorized Counsel briefly earlier than transferring to Florida. Mathis was both a local of Florida or North Carolina (she did attend highschool in Florida), however in 1982, her dad and mom lived in Jacksonville, so she relocated to deal with them.
Mathis grew to become the top of Jacksonville’s Downtown Ecumenical Providers Council which, in accordance with its web site, continues to “assist households and people struggling to decide on between shelter, meals, electrical energy or clothes.” In 1983, Mathis was acknowledged for her work by The Metropolis as “Ms. Metro.” A volunteer stated within the article in regards to the arrow:
She is a really caring individual and has given quite a lot of her time to those that need assistance.
Mathis handed away later in 1983 in a automotive accident. Mathis’ efforts, like these of the primary Black FBI agent, James Wormley Jones, haven’t been forgotten. The FBI celebrated the contributions of Black FBI brokers in 2019, together with these of Mathis.
Mathis hasn’t been forgotten by Rachel Hilson, both. The actress acknowledged, “we’re stretching the reality just a little bit for artistic functions” however she researched Mathis in addition to “Jerri Williams, who can be a former agent. She’s additionally a Black girl who joined within the ’80s.” Hilson defined in Could 2025 to the Boston Herald that she discovered power in Mathis and Williams:
Sylvia Mathis is the primary Black girl who joined in 1976. In 1972 they weren’t allowed to hitch as Particular Brokers…. So Nina is a pioneer in a way. She represents the Black Particular Agent pioneers of the ‘70s, ‘80s, and even the ‘90s as a result of it’s nonetheless a small variety of Black ladies who’ve served within the Bureau.
Hilson additionally famous that Nina is:
Undoubtedly grounded in quite a lot of that analysis that I did earlier than on the period… she’s there to do her job and works with largely white males… she realizes by the tip that she could be part of this group, this establishment, and another way she will be able to make it probably higher.” This echoes the phrases of Mathis herself in some ways.
Duster is on the market to stream now on Max, with new episodes weekly via July 3.
Duster
- Launch Date
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Could 14, 2025
- Community
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Max
- Administrators
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Steph Inexperienced