Tri-State Circuit

Title

Tri-State Circuit

Description

Fred Barasso ran the Tri-State Circuit in the American South, providing opportunities for black performers across the American South. Circuits like this one provided mobility and economic opportunities for black performers throughout the nation. Some performers used the stage to achieve fame in the burgeoning recording industry, including blues queen Bessie Smith. These stages also provided platforms for black entertainers to make statements about the larger political context of Jim Crow America.

Time Period

1910-1911

Source

Location data taken from descriptions in Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff, Ragged but Right: Black Traveling Shows, “Coon Songs,” and the Dark Pathway to Blues and Jazz and The Original Blues: The Emergence of the Blues in African American Vaudeville.

Relation

African-American Theater Circuits
Fred Barasso ran the Tri-State Circuit in the American South, providing opportunities for black performers across the American South. Circuits like this one provided mobility and economic opportunities for black performers throughout the nation. Some performers used the stage to achieve fame in the burgeoning recording industry, including blues queen Bessie Smith. These stages also provided platforms for black entertainers to make statements about the larger political context of Jim Crow America.