A Black-Owned Hotel In Mississippi, Where Blacks Stayed During Jim Crow, Has Been Toppled

A hotel in Mississippi that was once a place of safety for Blacks who traveled during the Jim Crow and Civil Rights Era has been demolished. The E.F. Young Hotel provided safe lodging for the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Harlem Globetrotters, and common laborers, among other notable Black leaders.

On April 24, Meridian residents watched as a work crew toppled the building. In 2021, the hotel was considered a safety hazard. Eric Young, a co-owner of E. F. Young Hotel, told WKOT-TV that it would be too expensive to rehabilitate the building.

In 1964, E. F. Young Jr., a manufacturer of hair care products, opened the E.F. Young Hotel in Meridian, Mississippi, Associated Press reported. In 1978, E. F. Young Hotel went out of business, and was converted to an office, before later becoming unoccupied.

“It was the only place to stay for people of color in a 90-mile radius of Meridian,” said Charles Young Jr., Young’s grandson, to WBLT. “Minorities didn’t have places they could stay during that time. If you didn’t sleep in your car or with a friend, you didn’t have any accommodations.”

“The only way that people could communicate was by word-of-mouth limited telephone, and they had what is called a Green Book,” Charles said, adding that the Hotel was “one of the premier places to stay in the South.”

The Green Book, created by Harlem native Victor Hugo Green, was a list of restaurants, beauty salons, hotels, and other places deemed safe for Blacks traveling in the Deep South.

According to AP, E. F. Young Hotel had 30 rooms, a beauty shop, and a barbershop. Young added that the hotel also had private bathrooms and bridal suites.