Uploaded July 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
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Chitlins (or chitterlings) are pork intestines, usually cooked with a breading and fried until crisp in bacon fat. They are one of the nearly extinct delicacies of American "soul food," cuisine that poor Southern Afro-Americans grew up eating in their own homes. Just as jazz is often said to be America's only indigenous music, chitlin's and soul food in general were created in the South by American Blacks and evolved entirely without any European influence.
During the segregation era in the United States, black entertainers and their fans were not welcome in “whites only” venues. In response, an extensive network of entertainment venues geared to a black audience rose up, and this network came to be known at the “chitlin' circuit.” Many prominent black entertainers worked the chitlin' circuit from the 1800s through the 1960s, and a tradition of predominantly black venues has endured in the United States, even though segregation laws have been struck from the books.
Jim Crow laws in the United States presented a unique challenge to entertainers. Some black entertainers like Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Aretha Franklin, and Cab Calloway were admired by blacks and whites alike, but they were not allowed to perform in segregated venues. When arranging tours, black entertainers were restricted to the chitlin' circuit, because these venues were the only places safe for black musicians, comedians, and other performers.
The "Chitlin' Circuit," like "Tin Pan Alley" and "Motown" and other legendary music locations, is both a real and symbolic term for the on-and-off-again venues--shoebox-sized bars, clubs, cafe
In an era when African Americans sat at the back of the bus and were banned from “Whites Only” establishments, the so-called Chitlin Circuit flourished. Driven by the entrenched racial segregation of the Jim Crow era, the circuit gave comics like Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor their first shots at infamy and it provided playwrights like August Wilson with an engaged audience. It also gave birth to rock ‘n’ roll music.
carmarshal.com/?utm_source=HNC
Chitlins (or chitterlings) are pork intestines, usually cooked with a breading and fried until crisp in bacon fat. They are one of the nearly extinct delicacies of American "soul food," cuisine that poor Southern Afro-Americans grew up eating in their own homes. Just as jazz is often said to be America's only indigenous music, chitlin's and soul food in general were created in the South by American Blacks and evolved entirely without any European influence.
During the segregation era in the United States, black entertainers and their fans were not welcome in “whites only” venues. In response, an extensive network of entertainment venues geared to a black audience rose up, and this network came to be known at the “chitlin' circuit.” Many prominent black entertainers worked the chitlin' circuit from the 1800s through the 1960s, and a tradition of predominantly black venues has endured in the United States, even though segregation laws have been struck from the books.
Jim Crow laws in the United States presented a unique challenge to entertainers. Some black entertainers like Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Aretha Franklin, and Cab Calloway were admired by blacks and whites alike, but they were not allowed to perform in segregated venues. When arranging tours, black entertainers were restricted to the chitlin' circuit, because these venues were the only places safe for black musicians, comedians, and other performers.
The "Chitlin' Circuit," like "Tin Pan Alley" and "Motown" and other legendary music locations, is both a real and symbolic term for the on-and-off-again venues--shoebox-sized bars, clubs, cafe
In an era when African Americans sat at the back of the bus and were banned from “Whites Only” establishments, the so-called Chitlin Circuit flourished. Driven by the entrenched racial segregation of the Jim Crow era, the circuit gave comics like Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor their first shots at infamy and it provided playwrights like August Wilson with an engaged audience. It also gave birth to rock ‘n’ roll music.
