Tourism officials in Mississippi rededicated a landmark honoring the historic Riverside Hotel in Clarksdale.
The ceremony held by Visit Mississippi took place Monday as part of the grand opening celebration for the Riverside Hotel Interpretive Center — the Living Blues and Civil Rights Museum. The center officially opened its doors as Clarksdale community leaders, local musicians, state officials, and others gathered to celebrate the hotel’s enduring legacy.
Among those in attendance were the late Frank and Joyce Ratliff’s daughter, Zelena, and grandsons Justin and Darrius. Hotel co-owner and granddaughter Sonya Ratliff Gates, currently stationed overseas, was unable to attend in person.
For at least three generations, the Ratliff family’s Riverside Hotel has been one of the only Black family-owned historic hotels in Mississippi and remains a significant landmark in blues and civil rights history. The original Riverside Hotel Mississippi Blues Trail marker was unveiled in January 2007, with then-owner Frank “Rat” Ratliff present. At the time, it was among the first Mississippi cultural trail markers funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The newly revised marker was designed with input from blues music scholars Jim O’Neal and Scott Barretta. The updated marker reflects a deeper history and broadens the site’s interpretation.
More about the Riverside Hotel
In 1943, Mrs. Z.L. Ratliff Hill transformed the G.T.Thomas Afro-American Hospital into a hotel, extending the building to include multiple guest rooms. The Riverside Hotel opened for business in 1944 and has since provided lodging to travelers of the Mississippi Delta.
The hotel was listed in “The Negro Travelers’ Green Book,” published annually from 1936-66, and served as safe accommodation for Black travelers during the Jim Crow era. Musicians such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, Ike Turner, Robert Nighthawk, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Sam Cooke are said to have visited or stayed at the hotel as they navigated a segregated South.
More about the Mississippi Blues Trail
The Mississippi Blues Trail celebrates the impact of blues music by honoring the musicians, venues, and cultural landmarks that have defined the state’s reputation as the Birthplace of America’s Music. Administered by Visit Mississippi, this statewide initiative showcases more than 200 markers commemorating the roots of blues music and invites visitors to experience its enduring legacy firsthand.