The Chitlin’ Circuit and the Numbers Game

Illegal gambling via the numbers game was a very popular activity in communities in the early and mid-20th century. In Florida, the numbers game was known as “bolita.” Raids and arrests because of bolita were common. Nonetheless, bolita continued as a prominent, and dangerous, enterprise across the state. 

The Chitlin’ Circuit has been romanticized, with a focus on the musicians and celebrities that are associated with it. The reality of the Circuit is that it was tough work for the musicians involved, and many of the venues were smaller with lesser-known performers. The venues were intended to be primarily for entertainment on the stroll, for residents who had worked hard all week and were looking for an escape. So along with the music, there might also be other forms of entertainment and escape via bolita, drinking, drugs, and crime, as people often associate with nightclubs and similar venues today. 

Clubs, juke joints, bars, and pool halls were popular locations for participating in bolita in particular. Owners of these establishments were sometimes peddlers, pick-up men, or the establishments were check-up houses. Proprietors of larger venues, like Condor Merritt at Club Eaton in Eatonville, Elder Jordan, Jr. at the Manhattan Casino in St. Petersburg, James Jerome “Cracker” Johnson in West Palm, and Charlie “Edd” Craddock in Jacksonville, were major operators of the numbers game. Their roles in the bolita world facilitated their financial success and in part enabled them to purchase more real estate and keep nightlife venues operating.