Lenape Bar Abandoned in Jacksonville
The Lenape Bar was a LaVilla hotspot in Jacksonville between the 1920s and 1940s. It hosted performances by Ray Charles and other important artists who toured Florida between the 1920s and 1950s. Jazz artists who performed at the Ritz Theatre or Knights of Pythias Hall’s dance club often retired to the Lenape Bar after their sets in the late 1930s. Louis Armstrong stayed in the Wynn Hotel located on the second floor of the building in the 1920s. This is how the building appeared in 2009. The nearby Ritz Theatre, a movie palace built in 1929, has been renovated and houses the Historic Ritz Theatre and Museum.
Unknown
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2009-may-ashley-street-the-harlem-of-the-south
MetroJacksonville.com
2009
MetroJacksonville.com
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Jacksonville, Florida
Overtown Nearly Destroyed by Interstate 95 Construction
Miami’s business and political elite developed “slum clearance” plans during the 1930s designed to remove the city’s African American population beyond the city limits. While New Deal housing projects created new segregated areas in Dade County in the 1930s, Overtown remained. Overtown, home to several of the most important stops on the Circuit, thrived until the construction of Interstate 95 cut a path right through the middle of the neighborhood. The population of Overtown dwindled rapidly, from nearly 40,000 before construction of the highway to fewer than 15,000 after it was complete.
Pineda, John
http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/01/30/880086/overtowns-heyday.html
<em>Miami Herald</em>
August 23, 1967
Pineda, John
<em>Miami Herald</em>
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Miami, Florida
Abandoned Cotton Club in Gainesville
Dance Hall
The African American community in Gainesville was restricted to a small area on the east side of town. The Cotton Club, named after the famous nightclub in Harlem, was the entertainment center of Gainesville’s African American community. Many stops on the Circuit were little more than large wood-framed houses with a stage, dance floor, and bar. This is how the Cotton Club looked before the Mount Olive A.M.E. Church acquired the property in 2012. Mt. Olive plans to renovate the Cotton Club.
Unknown
http://www.cce.ufl.edu/projects/the-cotton-club/picture-gallery/
University of Florida Powell Center for Construction & Environment
Before 2012
University of Florida Powell Center for Construction & Environment
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Gainesville, Florida
Aretha Franklin Promotional Billboard, 1960s Miami
Franklin, Aretha
Though much of the Circuit remained “underground” throughout the 1960s and 1970s, national and international artists often toured the larger stops in Florida. This promotional billboard advertised an Aretha Franklin performance in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood in the early 1960s. Miami promoter Clyde Killens produced a number of similar promotional billboards between 1940 and 1960 for a stellar cast of touring artists including Count Basie, B.B. King, Redd Foxx, and Bo Diddley. National recording artists often deviated from their “pop” image on the Circuit, however. Sam Cooke recorded a raucous live album before a rowdy Overtown audience at the Harlem Square Club in 1963. RCA Records chose to archive the raw recording instead of releasing it out of fear that it would damage Cooke’s career. Sam Cooke’s Live at the Harlem Sqaure Club, 1963 was not released until 1985.
Killens, Clyde
Rabin, Sammie
http://www.theblackarchives.org/
The Black Archives History & Research Foundation of South Florida, Inc.
196-
The Black Archives History & Research Foundation of South Florida, Inc.
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English
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Miami, Florida
<em>Florida Sentinel Bulletin </em>Political Cartoon, 1971
Political Cartoon
This cartoon appeared in the November 2, 1971 issue of the <em>Florida Sentinel Bulletin, </em>an African American newspaper in Tampa. The artist’s depiction of an African American family watching a white family on television highlights the political importance of popular culture in race politics. Columnist Johnny Jacobs wrote an entertainment report on “Tampa’s Night Beat” in the same issue. Jacobs praised a recent performance by singer Joe Tex at the local “Club Oasis.” Popular entertainment and politics were near neighbors in African American newspapers like the <em>Florida Sentinel Bulletin</em>.
<em>Florida Sentinel Bulletin</em>
http://digital.lib.usf.edu/SFS0024310/00387/pdf
University of South Florida Digital Collections
November 2, 1971
<em>Florida Sentinel Bulletin</em>
University of South Florida Digital Collections
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English
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Tampa, Florida
Rev. C.K. Steele speaking at “Free Bill Johnson” Rally outside of the Red Bird Cafe in Tallahassee
Steele, C.K.
Political Rally
Reverend C.K. Steele speaks at a rally outside of the Red Bird Café in Tallahassee’s Frenchtown neighborhood in 1971. Reverend Steele was an important leader in the Tallahassee civil rights movement. As head of the Inter-Civic Council, an organization made up of ministers, professionals, and business leaders, Rev. Steele led the watershed 1956 Tallahassee bus boycott. Steele served as pastor of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church and was a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Council.
Buckley, John
http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/130642
State Archives of Florida
July 31, 1971
See source for restrictions
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Tallahassee, Florida
Daddy Twofoot Performing During the "Free Bill Johnson" Rally outside of the Red Bird Cafe in Tallahassee
Political Rally
Performance
Performance and politics meet in two ways in this 1971 photo, as “Daddy Twofoot” performs for a political rally crowd outside of the Red Bird Café in Tallahassee’s Frenchtown neighborhood. By the 1970s, many artists on the Circuit were overtly political. Artists like James Brown and Joe Tex promoted civil rights and Black Nationalism in the early 1970s. Circuit stalwart Joe Tex joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Yusuf Hazziez in 1972. Local bands like Daddy Twofoot often shared these political sensibilities.
Buckley, John
http://floridamemory.com/items/show/130636
State Archives of Florida
July 31, 1971
See source for restrictions
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Tallahassee, Florida
Civil Disturbance After an Incident at the Blue Heron Bar in Riviera Beach
Civil Disturbance
On July 30, 1967, a confrontation between police and two African American men at a popular night spot in Riviera Beach escalated to a full-scale riot. The riot lasted through the night, and a local lumber company was set ablaze. Local leaders called popular entertainment venues like the Blue Heron a “public nuisance” and attempted to shut them down throughout the 1960s and 1970s. A quote from a nightclub manager in the 1977 Palm Beach Post highlighted the difficulty of their task. “If you close (the Blue Heron),” he said, “you’re going to have to go right down the block and close the next club and the next club.” Small local venues like the Blue Heron were popular stops on the Circuit.
Unknown
http://floridamemory.com/items/show/252951
State Archives of Florida
July 30, 1967
No known restrictions
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Riviera Beach, Florida
Slappy White Advertisement Alongside CORE Activism Report in <em>Miami Times</em>
Slappy White
The Circuit and politics were linked in African American communities and existed side-by-side on newspaper pages. Comedians performed regularly on the Circuit. This ad promotes comedian Slappy White, who later appeared on Sanford and Son and other television shows. White performed alongside club singer Phyllis Branch in this weeklong booking at the Hampton House Club in Brownsville. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, musicians Cannonball Adderley and LaVern Baker, and other African American celebrities stayed at the Hampton House Motel. The Motel’s jazz club was a popular stop on the Circuit.
<em>Miami Times</em>
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00028321/00683/16j
University of Florida Digital Collections
January 5, 1963
<em>Miami Times</em>
University of Florida Digital Collections
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Miami, Florida
Looking across Macomb Street toward the Red Bird Cafe in Tallahassee
The Red Bird Café was situated at the center of the historic Frenchtown neighborhood in Tallahassee throughout the 1960s and 1970s. A popular dance club and bar, the Red Bird Café hosted both local acts and groups touring the Circuit. Activists held at least one political rally on the Red Bird Café’s sidewalk in the early 1970s. Like a larger club in Jacksonville, the Red Bird Café was housed inside an old Knights of Pythias meeting hall. The Knights of Pythias was an important fraternal society and mutual aid organization that resisted Jim Crow discrimination in the 1920s.
Hilliard, Stephen
State Archives of Florida
197-
See source for restrictions
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Tallahassee, Florida