We are very proud to announce that the Riverside Hotel African American Historic Preservation Center has been designated as part of the historic National Parks Service (NPS) African American Civil Rights Network.
The African American Civil Rights Network encompasses properties, facilities, and interpretive programs, all of which present a comprehensive narrative of the people, places, and events associated with the African American Civil Rights movement in the United States. The resources (properties, facilities, and programs) chosen for inclusion in the African American Civil Rights Network help us to understand the significance of the civil rights movement to the broader history of the United States.
From the NPS: “The continuing African American struggle for social, economic, and political equality has forever changed the United States. The African American Civil Rights Network seeks to tell the story of the men and women whose bravery and sacrifices shaped the movement throughout American history, and still impact our country today. The Riverside Hotel African American Historic Preservation Center plays a critical role in this story, and we are pleased to include it in the Network.”
The Riverside Hotel African American Historic Preservation Center now take’s its place on the African American Civil Rights Network amongst the likes of the Lorraine Motel, Little Rock Central High School, Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument, Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail and the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area. The link to the African American Civil Rights Network “Discover the Sights that Comprise the African American Civil Rights Network” can be accessed at https://www.nps.gov/subjects/civilrights/discover-the-network.htm and in due course the Riverside Hotel African American Historic Preservation Center will be added to the website.
The Riverside Hotel “was dreamed up, owned, and operated by an entrepreneurial African American woman, Mrs. Z. L. Hill, living in Jim Crow–era Mississippi and since 1944 and up until the Pandemic in 2020, the Riverside Hotel had “provided safe lodging in the Delta for some of the most famous musicians in history as well as like-minded folk”, and was the place “where Blues Gave Birth to Rock and Roll”. As one of the few African American hotels in Mississippi during Jim Crow, it was listed in the Green Book and played host to a Who's Who of historic Black artists including Sonny Boy Williamson II, Muddy Waters, and Robert Nighthawk. Others, like Howlin’ Wolf, Sam Cooke and Ike Turner, made the Riverside Hotel their home away from home as they toured and crisscrossed the South. Rocket 88; considered to be the first Rock N Roll song ever, was written and rehearsed at The Riverside Hotel by Ike Turner, Jackie Brenston and Raymond Hill.
Prior to becoming the Riverside Hotel, the property opened on July 12, 1916 as the Clarksdale Colored Hospital and played a very significant role (1916 – 1942) in the Black community of greater Clarksdale during segregation and in 1937 was where the Empress of the Blues, Bessie Smith died, after being seriously injured in a car wreck while traveling between shows. Today, the room she passed in is preserved as a shrine in her honor, as a tribute to the most famous woman of the Blues.
In June of 2021, the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed the Riverside Hotel as one of America's Most Endangered Places giving our story much needed visibility. In May of 2022, we were awarded a $499,500 NPS African American Civil Grant towards the restoration and preservation of the Riverside Hotel and the adjacent shotgun houses. In July 2022, we participated in the Smithsonian Institutes Traveling Green Book Exhibition in Jackson, MS. In January 2023, we commenced with our initial restoration projects under our grant funding.
The Riverside Hotel has a rich history in the music and African American history and is a significant part of the tourism business in the Mississippi Delta. Original owner, Mrs. Z.L. Hill's granddaughters, Sonya Gates and Zelena Ratliff, are working to ensure that their family's legacy and the hotel’s legacy of African American culture, blues music and civil rights history is preserved for generations to come. The ability to restore and eventually re- open the hotel is critical not only to the Ratliff family, but the community at large and Mississippi.
For more information on The Riverside Hotel’s rich legacy and to learn about the Ratliff Family and their family’s fight to save, restore and preserve this valuable and irreplaceable African American landmark, please visit our website including our Go Fund Me Campaign at www.riversideclarksdale.com
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Please direct all media enquiries to:
Brenda Williams
Brendawilliams2121@hotmail.com
778-847-7121