Chitlin’ Circuit Venues: Beyoncé Reference Sparks History Lesson

Visit five locations where music and the past live

Madam Walker Legacy Center in Indianapolis was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Gabrielle Minion

Sheeka Sanahori,

AARP

Published May 23, 2024

On Beyoncé’s latest album, Cowboy Carter, the singer-songwriter opens her song “Ya Ya” by welcoming listeners to the rodeo chitlin’ circuit. She also referenced the circuit in her pre-launch album marketing.

It made many listeners want to learn more about the chitlin’ circuit.

“The label ‘the chitlin’ circuit’ itself is relatively new as far as being used en masse, because there were other kinds of references,” says Bryan Pierce, the director of curation at the National Museum of African American Music.

Post-emancipation, Black communities began opening businesses to cater to both Black performers and patrons, Pierce says. But before there were large theaters, there were tiny music venues found in small, rural communities.

“The thing that is so important to the story that we often don’t talk about are the country juke joints,” Pierce says. “You have these islands all throughout the Mississippi Delta, but they had juke joints and they were Black owned.”

According to Pierce, by the turn of the 20th century, performer Sherman Dudley saw a business opportunity to organize Black performers without the demeaning depictions of his community prevalent in the minstrel shows that made him popular.

“By 1909, [Dudley] established his first clubs in [Washington,] D.C.,” Pierce says. “From there, he decided he wanted to have a circuit of clubs around the United States that was specifically for African Americans to perform, and not so much as minstrel music, but these new genres, recognized as blues and jazz.”

The Dudley circuit, as it was called, began to fizzle out by 1916, and eventually folded into the Theater Owners Booking Association (T.O.B.A.), a more formal circuit of more than 100 theaters across the South that extended as far west as Oklahoma.

Even as the T.O.B.A. circuit disbanded, many theaters, including the Douglass Theatre in Macon, Georgia, continued to host African American musicians through the 1960s. Pierce says these Southern venues shaped the doo-wop legacy of the ’50s and ’60s.

“It’s definitely a beacon for driving culture forward, and it’s a place and a venue where ideas are birthed, cultivated and shared,” says Shelton Land, executive director of the Douglass Theatre. “The Douglass played an integral part in that because it was a brick-and-mortar platform for someone to catapult themselves.”

Many of the former Dudley and T.O.B.A. theaters we call the chitlin’ circuit today, such as the Bijou Theater in Nashville, Tennessee, and San Antonio’s the Keyhole Club have been closed for decades. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 destroyed many Black business districts, such as Chattanooga, Tennessee’s the Big 9 district, where these venues were located. A handful of chitlin’ circuit venues remain open and even host live music and events now. As AARP’s music and memory series shows, music plays an important part in brain health. According to a report from the AARP-founded Global Council on Brain Health, music stimulates many areas of the brain, including those responsible for memory, movement and mood. Here are five historic chitlin’ circuit venues where travelers can visit, and, in some instances, catch a live musical performance.

Douglass Theatre in Macon, Georgia, still hosts musical performances, as well as private events.

Courtesy Douglass Theatre

Douglass Theatre, Macon, Georgia

Charles Douglass, the son of a former slave, opened the Douglass Theatre in 1921. Douglass sat on the board of T.O.B.A., and through the circuit, he brought Black performers to his Macon theater. In 1958, the Douglass Theatre began having live talent shows that helped launch the career of singer-songwriter Otis Redding. It also hosted Georgia music icons James Brown and Little Richard in the early 1960s. The theater still hosts musical performances today, as well as private events. Small groups are encouraged to stop by for a tour of the building. Staff ask that groups of more than 10 call in advance to arrange tours. 355 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Sherman Dudley, who created the Dudley circuit, managed Minnehaha Nickelodeon Theater in Washington, D.C. It is now Ben’s Chili Bowl.

Alamy Stock Photo

Minnehaha Nickelodeon Theater (now Ben’s Chili Bowl) and the Lincoln Theatre, Washington, D.C.

Minnehaha Nickelodeon Theater opened in 1910 at 1213 U St. NW, a business district that would be nicknamed Black Broadway for its many entertainment businesses catering to Black patrons. Three years after it opened, Sherman Dudley, who created the Dudley circuit, bought and managed the theater. In 1958, the building was converted into the popular D.C. restaurant Ben’s Chili Bowl, and it is one of the oldest continuously open businesses on U Street’s old Black Broadway. Visitors may not be able to see the original seats and stage of the old theater, but they can get a feel for the early days of African American theater next door, at the Lincoln Theatre.

The Lincoln Theatre opened in 1922 and was lauded in a local newspaper as the nicest theater for Black patrons in the country. Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and Lena Horne all performed at Lincoln Theatre, along with many other prominent African American musicians. In 1983, the theater closed and remained dark for 10 years, but local efforts to restore the building allowed it to reopen in 1994. Now the venue hosts contemporary artists and has taped specials with legendary artists such as Gladys Knight and Smokey Robinson. Tickets for events are required to enter the building, which has been renovated to restore its neoclassical architectural details. 1213 and 1215 U St. NW

Madam C.J. Walker built the building to be a manufacturing hub for her hair products in 1927. It also was used as a beauty salon and school, a ballroom and Walker Theater.

Gabrielle Minion

Madam Walker Legacy Center, Indianapolis

Entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker originally built her Walker building in 1927 to be a manufacturing hub for her hair products. The building’s use expanded to much more: a beauty salon and school, a ballroom and a Walker theater. The entire building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. Today, the building preserves the legacy of Walker and holds regular events that are free and open to the public. Information inside the building also aims to tell the story of Indiana Avenue, the historic district that was once full of Black-owned entertainment businesses. 617 Indiana Ave.

murals of Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and Count Basie painted on Dreamland Ballroom in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and Count Basie all performed at Dreamland Ballroom in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Matthew McCoy

Dreamland Ballroom, Little Rock, Arkansas

The story of Dreamland Ballroom is intricately linked to its building, a three-story, red brick building called Taborian Hall. It was the most expensive construction project in Little Rock at the time. An African American organization called the Knights and Daughters of Tabor finished constructing the building in 1918. The building served as a service hub for African American soldiers during both world wars, but afterward it turned into a regular stop on the chitlin’ circuit. Jazz greats including Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and Count Basie all performed at Dreamland. Today, the theater has been renovated into an event venue, but the owners offer tours of the theater. 800 W. 9th St.

exterior of 100 Men Hall in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi

100 Men Hall in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2022. Etta James, seen on the building’s mural, performed there.

Courtesy 100 Men Hall

100 Men Hall, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi

The 100 Men Hall building was constructed in 1922 by a local African American civic group called the Hundred Members Debating Benevolent Association. The group originally organized to help community members, but their building quickly turned into a music venue for the chitlin’ circuit. Blues legend BB King, rock ’n’ roll pioneer Fats Domino and singer Etta James all performed here. The small venue on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast was almost lost to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but a family bought and restored the building the following year. 100 Men Hall celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2022 and still hosts musical acts to this day. The venue is listed on the Mississippi Blues Trail. 303 Union St.

%{postComment}%

Sheeka Sanahori is a freelance travel journalist and video producer. She writes about family travel, ancestry travel and the South.