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Chitlin' Circuit showcased black entertainment during Jim Crow

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Credit: LOUIE FAVORITE / lfavorite@ajc.com

Clubgoers could buy soul food at these venues, but the big payoff was seeing top-notch black entertainers - blues, gospel or R&B performers who got their start on the Chitlin' Circuit.

"It was African-Americans making something beautiful out of something ugly," said music historian Preston Lauterbach, author of "The Chitlin' Circuit: And the Road to Rock 'n' Roll."

"It was one of the few places that black culture could be celebrated" during Jim Crow, Lauterbach said.

Many of today's renowned African-American performers owe their start to the Chitlin' Circuit. On the circuit, artists such as B.B. King, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Sam Cooke, Ike and Tina Turner, and Otis Redding helped give birth to modern-day black music.

Also on the circuit, some of Georgia's greatest music legends cut their teeth, including Ray Charles, James Brown, Gladys Knight and the Pips, and Little Richard.

Lauterbach highlighted Little Richard as a prime example of a consummate Chitlin' Circuit entertainer.

Early in his career, Little Richard performed in the circuit clubs in Georgia and other states as a female impersonator, and as part of a rambunctious group called the Tempo Toppers and as a solo performer. All this was acceptable, even expected of performers on the circuit, Lauterbach said.

Georgia had its share of venues on the circuit. One of the best known is the Royal Peacock in Atlanta, which is still operating. Other Georgia venues include the Douglass Theatre in Macon, the Morton Building in Athens and the Liberty Theater in Columbus. By the 1970s, those venues had fallen on hard times, but thanks to grassroots efforts, they've been renovated, according to the Georgia African American Historic Preservation Network.
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Lauterbach's book explores the connection between the Chitlin' Circuit and rock 'n' roll music. "Most performers in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame had some connection to the Chitlin' Circuit. Even the Jackson Five got their start on the circuit, he noted.

Not everyone liked referring to the circuit by the name of lowly pig entrails, said Lauterbach. "There were people who embraced that name, and others who found it to be second class." Blues great Bobby Rush embraces the heck out of it, Lauterbach noted. Rush calls himself the "king of the Chitlin' Circuit."

The mainstream success of artists such as Little Richard coupled with integration led to the downturn of the Chitlin' Circuit. It still survives, though nothing like in its heyday.

"It was where all of the best musicians were," Lauterbach said. "It was black-owned and black-operated for black audiences."
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Throughout February, we'll spotlight a different African-American pioneer in the daily Living section Monday through Thursday and Saturday, and in the Metro section on Fridays and Sundays. Go to AJC.com/black-history-month for more subscriber exclusives on people, places and organizations that have changed the world, and to see videos on the African-American pioneer featured here each day.

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Chitlin' Circuit showcased black entertainment during Jim Crow

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Some of Georgia's and the nation's greatest music legends gained fame performing on the Chitlin' Circuit during the era of segregation.

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Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The Negro motorist Green-book. New York City: V.H. Green, 1936. Periodical. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016298176/.

APA citation style:

(1936) The Negro motorist Green-book. New York City: V.H. Green. [Periodical] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2016298176/.

MLA citation style:

The Negro motorist Green-book. New York City: V.H. Green, 1936. Periodical. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2016298176/>.

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An annual guidebook for African-American roadtrippers founded and published by New York City mailman Victor Hugo Green from 1936 to 1967. From a New York-focused first edition published in 1936, Green expanded the work to cover much of North America.

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Find the book on Sora (linked) and find the 2023 IDEA Book Guide (linked)

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National Museum of African American History and Culture

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Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012) was an American and Mexican artist known for her sculptures and prints featuring African American women.

Elizabeth Catlett was born at Freedmen's Hospital in Washington, DC. Both her maternal and paternal grandparents were born enslaved, a family legacy that influenced her art. Catlett knew from a young age that she wanted to be an artist. After Carnegie Mellon rescinded her acceptance due to her race, she attended Howard University, graduating in 1935 with a BS in Art. Following her graduation, she supervised elementary school art programs in Durham, North Carolina. In 1939, she began graduate studies in art at the University of Iowa, where she shifted her focus from painting to sculpture, and became the first woman to receive a MFA in sculpture from the University of Iowa. Her master's thesis, a limestone sculpture entitled Negro Mother and Child (1940) won first place in sculpture at the 1940 Chicago American Negro Exposition. Her work often centered black women.

In 1940, Catlett met her first husband, fellow artist Charles White, in Chicago. The couple married in 1941 and moved to New Orleans, but later relocated to Harlem, New York. In New York, Catlett encountered some of the most famous and influential artists and writers of the time including Loïs Mailou Jones, Charles Alston, Aaron Douglas, Jacob Lawrence, and Langston Hughes. She began studying lithography and modernist sculpture and in 1945, she received a grant from the Rosenwald Foundation to produce a body of work focusing on black women.

In 1946, Catlett and White moved to Mexico where Catlett was a guest artist at the printmaking collective, Taller de Gráfica Popular (TGP, People's Graphic Arts Workshop). The artists of TGP used linoleum prints and woodcuts to create didactic sociopolitical art.

While in Mexico, Catlett and White divorced. She remarried Mexican artist Francisco Mora with whom she had three sons. In the 1950s, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and the U.S. embassy in Mexico investigated the TGP and Catlett specifically for her bold artwork, political activism, and communist affiliations. The United States government declared her an "undesirable alien," which impaired her ability to return to the United States. In 1962, she became a Mexican citizen.

Inspired by the artistic activism within her circle of Mexican artists including Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and David Siqueiros, Catlett continued creating images that showed the constant struggle and surprising strength of women, African Americans, those experiencing poverty, and disadvantaged social classes. Throughout her career, Catlett continued to carry these themes through in her bronze, wooden, and terracotta sculptures, prints, and paintings. Her U.S. citizenship was reinstated in 2002. Catlett lived and worked between Cuernavaca, Mexico, and New York City until her death in 2012. Her work has been featured around the world.
View artwork created by Elizabeth Catlett

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Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012) was an American and Mexican artist known for her sculptures and prints featuring African American women.

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Teaching Hard History/ A Playlist for the Movement

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Teaching Hard History/ A Playlist for the Movement

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SÖK TIDIGARE AVSNITT

Sök efter tidigare avsnitt från Teaching Hard History.

OTHER EPISODES IN THIS PODCAST

Ansvarsfriskrivning: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Learning for Justice, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

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A Playlist for the Movement - w/ Charles L. Hughes

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01:26:17 - Music chronicles the history of the civil rights struggle: The events, tactics and emotions of the movement are documented in songs of the era. From...

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Read on Sora (linked)

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Harper Collins Teaching Guide (Linked)

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Female singer from The Miracles and "First Lady" of Motown

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Read reviews from the world's largest community for readers. Little Claudette lives in the magic kingdom of Motown, where all the happy children sing and d...

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Motown Museum | Home of Hitsville U.S.A.

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Founded in 1985 by Esther Gordy Edwards-former Motown Records executive and sister to Motown founder, Berry Gordy-Motown Museum is home to iconic Hitsville U.S.A., Studio A, and an extensive array of Motown artifacts, photographs, apparel and memorabilia.

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Josephine Baker, only female speaker at the March on Washington, 1963

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Famous dancer, expatriate to France, contributor to French Resistance in WWII and U.S. Civil Rights activist

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Our Story | Over Sixty Years of Washington DC History

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Virginia Ali is now 89 years old and she started the restaurant with her husband Ben when she was only 24. Every August 22nd, Ben's Chili Bowl celebrates our founding. But it's not just a birthday, it's a celebration of DC's African American history, culture, and character. It's a celebration of our city, and U Street's resilience.

DC's residents have a long history of bouncing back from hard times. Our Black community is front and center in this story and Ben's is a perfect case study - a study in our quest of freedom and its ongoing re-definition. Ben's Chili Bowl is proudly black-owned, and a historic landmark in Washington, DC's culture.

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Our Story | Over Sixty Years of Washington DC History

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From the 1968 race riots through the urban renewal of the '90s, Ben's Chili Bowl has seen it all. Over six decades of Washington DC history in every bite.

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10 Artworks that Defined the Civil Rights Era - Artsper Magazine

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The civil rights era was a period in which Black Americans sought equal rights under American law during the 1950s and 1960s. Although the 13th amendment had abolished slavery, nearly a century later Black Americans continued to endure discrimination, violent oppression, segregation, and lynchings during an era known to the world as, "Jim Crow." Many Black visual artists during the civil rights era were inspired by the revolutionary time, using the monumental moment as a backdrop to their works. At Artsper, we are committed to accessibility and the equal representation of art. Together, let's examine 10 artworks that defined the civil rights era.
1. David C. Driskell, Behold thy Son, 1956

Artist David C. Driskell relocated to the South at the end of the 1950s shortly after the lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till. Emmet Till's story was not the first or the last of its kind, but the coverage was widespread throughout the entire country. Till's mother insisted that his casket was open during the funeral service so that the world could see his mangled and battered body. This ignited a sense of anger and rage throughout the Black American community. Many have said that it was this very moment that prepared Black Americans to fight for equal rights during the civil rights era.

Driskell understood the ability art has to capture and puzzle the minds of others and he felt a certain responsibility to use his artwork as a vessel to talk about the horrific murder that had just taken place. He painted Behold Thy Son in 1956. The painting is rooted in religious iconography, paying homage to the crucifixion of Christ and the Pieta. However, the central figure is no longer Christ but rather a young Emmet Till. The jarring image speaks to the unjustified sacrifice of those who are innocent.

2. ​​Charles Henry Alston, Walking, 1958

From 1955 to 1956, Black Americans in Montgomery, Alabama, boycotted the bus as a message against the city's racially segregated public transportation laws. Artist Charles Henry Alston was influenced by this moment in history and created his painting, Walking, in 1958. Instead of rendering the key figures of the civil rights era, such as Martin Luther King Jr. or Rosa Parks, Alston chose to depict undistinguished human forms as they walked every day in protest of the segregated buses. While central leaders of the time were essential to the widespread coverage of the movement, it was the everyday adults and children who built the backbone of the civil rights era. Alston's painting celebrates and remembers their tremendous efforts and electrifying spirit.

3. Norman Lewis, Evening Rendezvous, 1962

Beyond the horrific Jim Crow legislation that took hold of the United States for decades, Black Americans feared the rise of attacks orchestrated by white supremacist groups. In his semi- abstract painting, Norman Lewis depicts swirls of red and blue surrounded by small white figures. The presence of white is an allusion to white hoods, an ominous symbol of the Ku Klux Klan. In Evening Rendezvous the painting and its title refer to late-night Klan meetings that took place frequently. The colors of the image also are representative of the American flag. It is known that many white supremacist groups describe their purpose and gatherings as a means for patriotism. They utilize their supposed patriotism as a justification for hatred and violence.

4. Jacob Lawrence, Soldiers and Students, 1962

World-renowned artist, Jacob Lawrence, depicted scenes of everyday existence for Black Americans. In his painting, S oldiers and Students, Lawrence captures the fear and outrage many people felt during the desegregation of schools throughout the United States of America during the civil rights era.

Lawrence paints three armed guards as they escort a group of Black American students, as a group of white protesters tries to block the school's entryway. Many believe that Lawrence was inspired by the Little Rock 9, a group of Black American students who desegregated Central High School in 1957. 5 years later, a crowd of angry protestors swarmed a group of US Marshals at the University of Mississippi. The US Marshals had been deployed with a mission to protect James Meredith, a Black American student as he attended what was previously an all-white university.

5. Elizabeth Catlett, Homage to My Young Black Sisters, 1968

Homage to My Young Black Sisters by Elizabeth Catlett is emblematic of the civil rights era. The powerful wood sculpture depicts a bold and dynamic female figure, rendered in abstract simplicity. At the center of the form is a hollow oval, painted black. Cartlett often carved sculptures from mahogany and cedar as the color of the wood captures a darker melanin. In Homage to My Young Black Sisters, Catlett created an upward dynamic, as the sculpted woman has her right arm raised, proudly clenching her fist, the symbol of Black Power and excellence during the civil rights era.

6. Faith Ringgold, American People #20 Die, 1968

America People #20 Die is one of Faith Ringgold's earliest works. The Harlem-born artist is known for her depictions that capture systemic issues faced by Black Americans. This painting commemorates the Long Hot Summer of 1967, a period that refers to 159 events of police brutality that erupted throughout the United States, targeting Black Americans. In America People #20 Die, Ringgold depicts a violent riot, rendering murdered bodies, facial expressions of fear, while referencing Picasso's .

7. Sam Gilliam, April 4, 1969

Abstract artist Sam Gilliam, created his purple-tinted composition, April 4, in 1969. The artwork stays true to Gilliam's abstract style. It is free of form and figurations, focusing entirely on diluted stains and acrylics. Without mention of the title, the viewer is left with a lilac landscape free of emotional ties. However, Gilliam had a tragic event in mind when creating this work. The title, April 4, is the very day when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. A year after his murder, Gilliam picked up his canvas and created a captivating universe. He tapped into the nuanced emotions experienced by many Black Americans throughout the United States during the civil rights era. It provides a moment of reflection, allowing spectators to feel grief and the depth of Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy.

8. David Hammons, The Door (Admissions Office), 1969

The Door (Admissions Office) by David Hammons commemorates the trauma and struggles associated with desegregating schools during the civil rights era. Hammons presents a wooden door frame on which "Admissions Office" is written. Below the door's label, there is an ink print of the profile of a body that has been violently pressed into the door.

Hammon's work speaks to the violence experienced by Black American students who desegregated white schools throughout the states. It has been argued that the process of desegregating schools was one of the most far-reaching efforts throughout the country which resulted in a vicious response from racist-white America. There were instances where white students and adults would physically stand in the doorframes throughout school's preventing Black students from entering. This is the very incident that Hammons channels in his powerful artwork. It provides spectators a moment to reflect upon the traumas and struggles that Black students experienced during this moment in the civil rights era.

9. Barbara Jones-Hogu, Unite, 1971

Co-founder of the Black artist collective AfriCOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists), Barbara Jones-Hogu, created powerful artworks. The collective believed the process of making and distributing art a radical act. Artists from the collective engaged with Afrocentric aesthetic renderings and ideologies that touched many Black Americans during the civil rights era. A powerful message of Black power and empowerment is central in Jones-Hogu's Unite. In the foreground of the artwork, there are central Black figures freely embracing their natural hair. They raise their right arms in the air with clenched fists, a symbol of Black power. Above the figures, the word unite appears several times in a fragmented style. Jones-Hogu is inspiring fellow Black Americans to come together and fight for civil rights while inspiring a movement of Black excellence and power.

10. Betye Saar, The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, 1972

Internationally recognized artist, Betye Saar, is best known for her artworks that incorporate recycled objects while creating images that reference Native American and Black culture. In the Liberation of Aunt Jemina, Saar repurposes the racist, Jim Crow archetype, the "Mammy," as the central figure. The doll is carrying a broom in her right hand and in lieu of gripping a pencil in her right hand she is holding a rifle. In doing this, the doll is liberating herself from the submissive archetype. The character has now become powerful, threatening, and resilient. Beyond this, there is a clenched fist in the foreground, a symbol of Black Power. Saar mentioned that this was the first politically-oriented piece she had ever made. She felt motivated to engage with political art after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.

The withstanding impact of art

The civil rights era was a very important time in American history that remains prevalent today. While these are only 10 powerful works that are rooted in history, there are many more to discover and appreciate. To learn more about today's change-making artists, explore Artsper's collection of emerging Black artists.

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10 Artworks that Defined the Civil Rights Era - Artsper Magazine

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Many artists during the 1950s and 1960s were inspired by the revolutionary time. Let's examine 10 artworks that defined the civil rights era.

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Find the book on Sora (linked).

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Read on Sora (linked).