Of the many venues on the Chitlin' Circuit, this and the Victory Grill in Austin are the only ones left. Before the days of integration, black musicians frequented certain clubs throughout the South and Midwest where they were allowed to play. During the years before the Civil Rights movement got underway, segregated American cities helped give birth to a touring circuit that provided employment for hundreds of black musicians and eventually brought about the birth of rock 'n' roll.
The Circuit provided bars, booking agencies and clubs, where traveling musicians could come into a black community, play, make money and go to the next town. This had been going on forever, of course, but turning it into an organized thing and including smaller jobs in unlikely places like North Dakota and Minnesota was the innovation, as well as providing venues for such forgotten organizations as Dittybo Hill and his Eleven Clouds of Joy or Smiling Billy Steward and his Celery City Serenaders. No, the music these bands played wasn't giving Duke Ellington sleepless nights, but it was making audiences happy and making money for the bands and the places they played.
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The Chitlin' Circuit