[1][2] In 1963 during the Civil Rights movement, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference used a room in the hotel as their headquarters, which was later bombed by terrorists.
[1] It served as premium accommodation for African American travelers and was listed in The Negro Motorist Green Book, a travel guide.
[1] The Southern Christian Leadership Conference used room 30 as its headquarters for leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttlesworth, and others, to plan portions of the 1963 Birmingham campaign of the civil rights movement.
[4] After discrimination in public accommodation was outlawed, the motel's business declined in the 1970s.
In summer of 2023, the site is set to open to the public for history tours.