SWINGING THE BLUES

An electrifying Jimi Hendrix plays guitar and Ike and Tina Turner give a spellbinding show in these fascinating photos of the swinging Chitlin Circuit in segregated America

William Popsie Randolph/News Dog Media    

A young Jimi Hendrix gives an electrifying guitar performance while Wilson Pickett sings at a concert hall in New York City

The fascinating snaps give an insight into the concert halls for black musicians

    

DEEP racial segregation meant they were banned from performing at most concert halls.

But incredible pictures showing a Jimi Hendrix playing the guitar and a spellbinding Tina Turner show them plying their trade on the Chitlin Circuit.

Michael Ochs/News Dog Media   

Tina Turner takes the microphone while her husband Ike plays the guitar at a venue in Dallas in 1964

The Circuit was a collective of venues throughout America, where it was acceptable for African American entertainers to perform.
Under intolerant laws during the 1950s, black singers and musicians were unable to play for white audiences and were forced into separate concert halls.
But in some deeply segregated American cities, venues sprung up that provided employment for hundreds of black musicians.

The Apollo Theater/News Dog Media   

A young James Brown sings into the microphone and entertains the crowds at the Apollo Theatre in New York City

Bob Parent/News Dog Media    

Ray Charles plays at a Chitlin Circuit venue for black performers in the 1960s

It was named the Chitlin Circuit after the soul food dish made out of pig intestines and venues were in cities such as New York, Chicago, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia.
And fascinating pictures from the time show household names performing as their audiences get down on the dance floor.

 

     

        

Among them are Sam Cooke, James Brown, Sammy Davis Jr, Aretha Franklin and Otis Reading.
The heartwarming pictures feature in a new book called The Chitlin Circuit by author Preston Lauterbach.

Marion Post-Wolcott/LOC/News Dog Media    

A couple enjoy the music and get down while dancing a jitterbug in Memphis

Marion Post-Wolcott/LOC/News Dog Media    

The Chitlin Circuit venues were one of the only places where African Americans could go to let their hair down and dance

Marion Post-Wolcott/LOC/News Dog Media    

Three men show off their best jitterbug moves at a juke joint in Mississippi on a Saturday evening in the 1940s

Marion Post-Wolcott/LOC/News Dog Media    

The heartwarming pictures feature in a new book called The Chitlin Circuit by author Preston Lauterbach

And he explained: “It’s definitely a vernacular term.
“In the African-American press they were typically called the one-nighter circuit or the theatrical circuit, it was dressed up a little bit. Chitlin’ was informal.
“It denotes a certain ‘second-classness’ because of the food that it is associated with
“But still, there was something redeeming in the term.”

Marion Post-Wolcott/LOC/News Dog Media    

A group of men enjoy swigging beer in a juke joint in Clarksdale, Mississippi

Russell Lee/LOC//News Dog Media    

Two men play guitar for party goers at an African American tavern in Chicago in 1941

Charlie's Place/News Dog Media   

Staff at Charlie’s Place in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina pose for a picture. The club opened in 1937 and was a famous spot on the Chitlin Circuit