The crowd gathered under a cloudless royal-blue sky. It was fitting the sky was so vividly colorful, because the day was all about colors at Riverside Hotel.
Watermelon Slim, a legendary blues performer, sat on a hunter-green two-seater held in place by cinder blocks of the same color. Sporting a tweed flat cap, he entertained the crowd that had gathered to support his cause. Playing and singing for a cause comes naturally for Watermelon Slim, who launched his career singing and composing songs protesting the Vietnam War almost 50 years ago. So under the royal sky, on the green bench, the performer sang the blues.
The gathering on Friday, was held to support one of Mississippi’s great treasures, the Riverside Hotel, which has suffered because of the global pandemic. The hotel has financially gone into the red, a much less pleasant color than the blues.
Recently, the National Trust for Historic Preservation ranked the Riverside Hotel among America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2021.
And the colorful themes of the day didn’t stop there.
The Riverside Hotel holds an important place in Clarksdale’s rich history precisely because of color. For decades, many of America’s premier entertainers were unable to stay in most hotels because of their skin color.
As they traveled to or through Mississippi, the Riverside Hotel became an important home to some of the world’s most talented musicians and vocalists. Duke Ellington, Muddy Waters, and countless other entertainers counted on the Riverside Hotel for safe lodging. Some, like Ike Turner, actually moved in for a season of time.
And then there was the birth of rock-n-roll.
While the City of Memphis takes credit for recording the first rock-n-roll song, “Rocket 88,” the truth is that the song was written and rehearsed by Ike Turner and his colleagues at the Riverside Hotel.
Civil Rights Movement leaders, most famously Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., stayed at the hotel for the same reasons as entertainers and African American visitors to the Delta. Wanting to honor and learn from its history, John F. Kennedy, Jr. also stayed there without drawing any public attention to his time in Clarksdale.
Launching the hotel in 1944 Mrs. Z.L. Ratliff Hill operated the Riverside until succeeded by her son, Frank “Rat” Ratliff. Today, Zelena Ratliff and Sonya Ratliff Gates serve as the keepers of the family business and a historic treasure of the Mississippi Delta.
While the hotel withstood the forces of discrimination for decades, the pandemic and a tree falling on the hotel have proved even more harmful. And because of all that the Riverside Hotel has given to Clarkdale and the world, people are giving back in this time of need.
A GoFundMe site has been set up to help the Riverside Hotel repair the tree damage, conform to the new paradigm of post-Covid America, and reopen to the public. The target amount is $50,000, and over $11,000 has already been raised.
The GoFundMe page can be found at: https://gofund.me/f551bb59
The hotel’s website is: RiversideClarksdale.com
