The "
Chitlin' Circuit" was the collective name given to the string of performance venues throughout the eastern and southern
United States that were safe and acceptable for
African American musicians, comedians, and other entertainers to perform during the age of
racial segregation in the United States (from at least the late 19th century through the 1960s). The name derives from the
soul food item
chitterlings (stewed pig intestines) and is also a play on the term "
Borscht belt" which referred to a group of venues (primarily in New York's Catskill Mountains) popular with Jewish performers during the 1940s, 50s and 60s.
Noted theaters on the Chitlin' Circuit included the Royal Peacock in Atlanta; the Cotton Club, Wilt's Small Paradise and the Apollo Theater in New York City; Robert's Show Lounge, Club DeLisa and the Regal Theatre in Chicago; the Howard Theatre in Washington, D.C.; the Uptown Theatre in Philadelphia; the Royal Theatre in Baltimore; the Fox Theatre in Detroit; the Victory Grill in Austin, Texas; the Hippodrome Theatre in Richmond, Virginia; and the Ritz Theatre in Jacksonville, Florida.
The song "Tuxedo Junction" was written about a stop along the chitlin' circuit in Birmingham, Alabama. Once the performance was over, the band would leave for the next stop on the circuit. When the lyrics were ready to be added, Erskine Hawkins explained the reason for the title to Buddy Feyne who then created lyrics to match the meaning.
Many notable performers started on the chitlin' circuit, including Count Basie, George Benson, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis, Jr., Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, The Jackson 5, Redd Foxx, Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, Billie Holiday, John Lee Hooker, Lena Horne, Etta James, B. B. King, Patti LaBelle, Bernie Mac, Moms Mabley, The Delfonics, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Wilson Pickett, Richard Pryor, Otis Redding, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Little Richard, Smokey Robinson, Ike & Tina Turner, The Four Tops, The Isley Brothers, The Supremes, The Temptations, Tammi Terrell, Muddy Waters, and Flip Wilson.
Mississippi Blues Trail marker
The second historic marker designated by the Mississippi Blues Commission on the
Mississippi Blues Trail was placed in front of the Southern Whispers Restaurant on Nelson Street in
Greenville, Mississippi, a stop on the Chitlin' Circuit in the early days of the blues. The marker commemorates the importance of this site in the history of the development of the
blues in Mississippi. In the 1940s and 1950s, this historic strip drew crowds to the flourishing club scene to hear
Delta blues,
big band jump blues and
jazz.
Contemporary use
Ebony magazine prefers the term "urban theater circuit" for recent work like that of playwright and actor
Tyler Perry. In a January 2004 interview with Perry, the genre's leading practitioner,
Ebony wrote that his work marked
:"a new chapter in the urban theater circuit as a whole—a genre that has been dogged by criticism from some Blacks in the traditional theater. Perry, as the most visibly recognized player in the circuit, has felt the brunt of this criticism.
:"'They say that Tyler Perry has set the Black race back some 500 years with these types of "chitlin' circuit" shows. The problem with the naysayers is that they don't take the opportunity to see my shows,' Perry argues. 'With my shows, I try to build a bridge that marries what's deemed "legitimate theater" and so-called "chitlin' circuit theater," and I think I've done pretty well with that, in bringing people in to enjoy a more elevated level of theater.'"
The
North Carolina hip-hop group,
Little Brother, named their mixtape,
Chittlin Circuit 1.5 after the venues.
See also
Rhythm and Blues
Sawdust trail
Borscht belt
References
External links
Jimi Hendrix and the Chitlin' Circuit
Category:African-American culture
Category:Vaudeville
