- So imagine it's the 1950s and you're a fantastic Black musician.

♪ Ow ♪ - A combination that makes touring in the South during the era of segregation very dangerous, but you were born to play R&B and this is your livelihood.

What do you do?

You work the Chitlin' Circuit, of course, and in doing so, you might stop in Alabama's first all Black self-governed municipality.

(groovy upbeat music) The Chitlin' Circuit was a network of performance spaces primarily in the South and Eastern United States created out of necessity by and for Black musicians, comedians and other entertainers started in the early 1930s during the height of Jim Crow segregation.

The Royal Peacock in Atlanta, DC's Howard Theater, Chicago's Regal Theater and the Apollo Theater in Harlem are some of the most famous.

These venues were welcoming spaces for Black artists and patrons, free from the discrimination and hostility of white establishments.

Legends like Tina Turner, BB King, Sam Cooke, the queen of soul herself, Aretha Franklin, and yes.

♪ Ow ♪ - James Brown, all performed on the Chitlin' Circuit.

In fact, it's hard to name a Black entertainer from this time period that didn't get their start on the Circuit.

I mean, Beyonce even mentions the Chitlin' circuit in her 2024 album, "Cowboy Carter."

This was a big deal that continues to influence music today.

So our R&B musician just played an amazing show at Birmingham's Carver Theater, but their next stop is the Royal Peacock in Atlanta.

Today, that's a quick two and a half hour drive, but that was not the case in the mid 20th century.

Before the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, the modern day interstate didn't exist and travel was not as efficient.

In rural areas, especially in the South, Black communities played a huge role in making sure folks had a safe place to rest and even earn some money on the way to the next big city and that is how Hobson City located almost exactly at the halfway point between Birmingham and Atlanta, emerged as a premier stop for Black performers on the Chitlin' Circuit.

Hobson City was found in 1899 and is recognized as the first municipality entirely governed by Black folks in Alabama.

I mean, just imagine 34 years after slavery was abolished, a community of Black Americans established a city during an era when almost any attempt at progress was met with racial violence.

Encountering a town governed by Black leadership was a rarity in the South.

For touring Black entertainers, a self-sustaining all Black town was not only a safer stop, it was also a place of empowerment, but setting up a town in the deep South was anything but easy.

Before Hobson City was established, it was a Black neighborhood in Oxford, Alabama called Mooree Quarter.

According to local sources, a Black man ran for the office of Justice of the Peace in Oxford and won.

This made local whites furious.

Oxford's mayor then petitioned the state legislature to redraw the boundaries of the city to exclude Mooree Quarter, kicking it's citizens out of the city and disempowering them from voting.

After being excluded, the residents of Mooree Quarter decide to establish themselves as a distinct municipal district.

The area was formally incorporated on August 16th, 1899 and renamed Hobson City.

- One of the things that I hear about Hobson City during that time is that they were really self-sufficient.

That they really didn't have to rely upon anybody outside of Hobson City for their needs.

- While the early achievements of the all Black Town showed promise, the neighboring towns in Alabama were far from supportive.

In just the first 10 years, three attempts were made to eradicate the town.

The surrounding communities tried to annex Hobson City and the Alabama legislature tried to revoke the city's incorporation twice.

None of these attempts were successful.

Then in the summer of 1910, a Black policeman in Hobson City arrested two white bootleggers fueling racial tension.

- They were arrested by Black police officers, they went in a jail controlled by Blacks and so when the word got out, it was stated that some of the white men wanted to come and just burn up Hobson City.

- To calm tensions, the bootleggers were eventually handed over to the white county sheriff.

Nine years later, in 1919, the Red Summer began.

This was a series of racially motivated attacks across the United States, primarily with white mobs targeting Black communities.

Hobson City's then mayor, Newman O'Neal, received multiple death threats from the Ku Klux Klan.

After reportedly being beaten near his home, O'Neill fled North never to return.

And despite its early legal victories, ambiguity emerged over Hobson City's legitimacy when its original incorporation records were lost.

The missing records caused decades of issues around access to funding for city infrastructure, things like public schools, parks, roads and utilities.

Nevertheless, this Black community stood firm.

From the 1930s into the fifties, the town began to thrive and businesses, churches, parks and a school, known as Calhoun County Training School, were established.

Modeled after Booker T Washington's Tuskegee Institute, this was the only school in Calhoun County that would serve rural Black students and it drew learners from various rural areas across the county, serving as a hub for education.

- It had everything, they had the school, they had the churches, they had the businesses, they had baseball on weekends.

So, this was a good place to live for Black people and it was a thriving community.

They didn't get a lot of help from the federal government and other agencies that provided for other towns, but they continued to thrive.

- The Chitlin' Circuit was also alive and well.

With major acts coming through town, Hobson City became a regional hub for Black entertainment.

By the late 1950s, into the early sixties, Hobson City was booming.

Some of the most popular venues in Hobson City were the bingo halls and clubs owned by local businessmen, Cleve Holloway, which drew in Black people from around the region who were longing for entertainment.

- Cleve Holloway probably did more for Hobson City than anybody.

Economically, he was making money and he had money to share and he would share.

He had probably three nightclubs there in town that Chitlin' Circuit would probably visit.

He built homes, financed them himself for some of the people in the community.

You name it.

- If he made money, Hobson City made money.

He was all about giving folks what they were not able to get for themselves.

(light clicking) (protestors shouting) - With the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the vital work of desegregation began across the nation.

But it's crucial to acknowledge that many Black communities were left without the necessary support to navigate the challenges of desegregation.

Integration brought both opportunities and challenges to the Chitlin' Circuit.

On one hand, it allowed Black performers access to new audiences and famous Chitlin' Circuit artists like James Brown, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin skyrocketed into mainstream stardom.

But on the other hand, small Black-owned venues face increased competition, ultimately leading to the glory days of the Circuit fading into the history books and Hobson City took a hit too.

In 1972, Judge Stringer, a pastor and businessman took over as mayor of a struggling Hobson City.

Mayor Stringer quickly became known for his innovative approaches to gaining external support for the town.

- He believed in connecting to bigger figures, larger than life people to bring some attention to Hobson City and hoping that at some point he might could get them to come in and invest in Hobson City, maybe open some businesses and he would bring in celebrities like Hank Aaron, Don Newcombe, Redd Foxx, James Brown.

You listening to James Brown on the radio and then the next day he's sitting in your living room eating collard greens and fried chicken and cornbread.

And, I mean.

Wow.

As a kid, that was probably like a kid now sitting around Jay-Z or somebody.

- Stringer's efforts to bring Black celebrities and leaders to Hobson City, not only gained national attention, but also increased the town's credibility and legitimacy.

This newfound recognition opened doors to financial opportunities crucial for it's development.

- Mayor Stringer was, in my opinion, maybe that Renaissance mayor that we had.

He had a lot of contacts because he was an African American preacher and so he had connections through working with local pastors and being able to get resources.

- Just as Hobson City appeared to be on the path of progress, financial misconduct led to Stringer's resignation in 1978.

The conviction was for embezzling $172, about $850 today.

His departure marked a decline in Hobson City's prominence, as entertainers he had attracted stopped visiting the town.

Since then, the city has struggled financially.

But if there's one thing we've learned about Hobson City, it doesn't give up.

It took almost a hundred years, but in 2018, Hobson City was officially incorporated again, opening doors for future funding opportunities.

Today, our innovative R&B musician who hit the Chitlin' Circuit to make a living might look more like Chance the Rapper, who independently produced and release his Grammy winning album in 2017.

Or maybe more like award-winning banjo player, Rhiannon Giddens, who helped Beyonce reclaim country for Black artists when "Texas Hold 'Em" hit number one.

Black entertainers and entrepreneurs continue to innovate and reclaim spaces they historically have been forced to leave behind.

And now more than ever, it's crucial to acknowledge that many towns like Hobson City continue to struggle to navigate the challenges caused by decades of exclusion.

It's up to the surrounding communities to reinvest and support the people and places that bear the brunt of history and come out the other side.

Despite enduring systemic racism and oppression, communities like Hobson City, and pioneering cultural movements like the Chitlin' Circuit, exemplify how Black excellence perseveres against all odds.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues)