Music history
The Chitlin' Circuit
Preston Lauterbach
Lauterbach follows the promoters, musicians, and venues that sustained Black touring circuits.
Reading list
The Lyric’s Historic Legacy
Black stages, touring routes, and institutions that made performance possible.
Start with The Chitlin’ Circuit for the geography and economics of Black touring. Compare Duke Ellington’s account of a band on the road with the history of the American Negro Theatre. The Lyric’s own exhibit supplies the Lexington history.
Visit the related Lyric pageContinue the story
Recommended reading
Drama
The Piano Lesson
August Wilson
A carved piano forces siblings to decide what they owe their family’s history and their futures.
Drama
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
August Wilson
A recording session brings musicians and industry power into collision as Ma Rainey insists on her terms.
Memoir
Music Is My Mistress
Duke Ellington
Ellington remembers the musicians, places, and collaborations behind his work as a bandleader.
Music history
The Gospel Sound
Anthony Heilbut
The history of gospel performance follows singers and ensembles from church settings to the road.
Biography
Looking for Lorraine
Imani Perry
Perry connects Hansberry’s theatre work with her political thought, private life, and artistic networks.
Drama
A Raisin in the Sun
Lorraine Hansberry
A Chicago family debates how to use an inheritance and faces resistance to moving into a new home.
Drama
Fences
August Wilson
A Pittsburgh family negotiates the consequences of one man’s disappointments, decisions, and obligations.
Essays
The Ground on Which I Stand
August Wilson
Wilson considers artistic control and the institutional conditions Black theatre needs to flourish.
History
The American Negro Theatre and the Long Civil Rights Era
Jonathan Shandell
A history of Harlem’s American Negro Theatre traces artists, audiences, and a new space for Black theatre.
History
The Black Arts Movement
James Edward Smethurst
A study of the Black Arts Movement examines regional networks and the connection between artistic practice and political action.