What was the Theatre Owners’ Booking Association circuit for Black entertainers?

The Theatre Owners’ Booking Association (TOBA) was an organization formed in the early 1920s to book Black entertainers into a network of venues that catered to Black audiences, often referred to as the chitlin circuit.12

Because racial segregation and Jim Crow laws excluded African Americans from many mainstream vaudeville venues, TOBA provided a vital, albeit often grueling, source of employment for Black performers. While the organization was instrumental in fostering the growth of tap dance by nurturing influential artists such as the Whitman Sisters and Leonard Reed and Willie Bryant—creators of the "Shim Sham Shimmy"—the working conditions were frequently harsh. Due to these difficult circumstances, many entertainers derisively referred to the association as "Tough on Black Artists".12

TOBA’s governing board was interracial, and it dominated the circuit until its collapse in the early 1930s, a decline accelerated by the Great Depression and financial mismanagement.1