The Riverside Hotel “was dreamed up, owned, and operated by an entrepreneurial African American woman, Mrs. Z. L. Hill,” during ther racially segregated Jim Crow–era in Mississippi in 1944, and it “provided safe lodging in the Delta for some of the most famous musicians in history as well as like-minded folk.” 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.

The Riverside Hotel was the place “where Blues Gave Birth to Rock and Roll.” 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 served the African American community until 1942. In 1937, “Empress of the Blues” Bessie Smith died in the hospital, after being seriously injured in a car wreck while traveling between shows. 

In 2021, the National Trust for Historic Preservation added the Riverside Hotel to its list of one of the most endangered sites in America. In 2021, the City of Clarksdale proclaimed the Riverside Hotel as the place where blues gave birth to rock and roll. In 2022, the Riverside Hotel was awarded a $499,500 NPS African American Civil Grant towards the restoration and preservation of the hotel and the adjacent shotgun houses, and participated in the Smithsonian Institution’s traveling Green Book Exhibition. The hotel is one of only a few structures in America today that was in the Green Book and still in operation. In 2023, the hotel was added to the prestigious National Parks Service African American Civil Rights Network acknowledging its impact upon Civil Rights. The need to further preserve its history, was recently recognized by the Association of African American Museums in providing a grant to undertake research, documentation and creation of a library. In addition, the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area provided a grant to establish an interpretive center within the hotel.

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 are 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 their website HERE