College Motel

College Motel was listed in the Green Book as “College Motel—U.S. Hwy 29 North at Stanley [sic] St.” in Greensboro in 1957 and from 1959-1960.¹

College Motel opened in 1956. The motel was located on Route 29 (at the time a new “superhighway”) at its intersection with Stamey Street. The hotel was adjacent to Lutheran College in Greensboro, NC. At the time of its opening it was the largest hotel for African Americans in North Carolina and among the largest in the Southeast.²

The hotel originally had 32 rooms, wall-to-wall carpet, telephones, air conditioning, hand made draperies, and individually controlled electric radiator heat. It was constructed and owned by the John R. Taylor Company, which hired Mr. and Mrs. Sampson W. Foster, Jr. to manage the hotel. Another couple, Herman L. and Nina E. Bridges, was hired to manage the hotel in 1957. Unfortunately, the hotel had difficulty getting business, and it closed in 1958. A new hotel, the Kent Court Motel, opened in 1958.³

While the press noted that the new motel was for white travelers only, the hotel’s owner, John Russell Taylor, only said that publicly. In reality, the motel served people of all races and had an integrated dining room. Taylor believed it to be one of the few places in the south, besides the YWCA, where people of different races regularly dined together. The motel was primarily patronized by NC A&T University students.⁴

John Russell Taylor, Sr., who owned the hotel, and his wife, Betsy Taylor, were white civil rights activists who were very active in Greensboro. Betsy advocated for school desegregation and offered opportunities for Black and white children to play together. John used his position as a prominent realtor, builder, and developer to provide housing opportunities for African Americans. He also provided guidance to other realtors who were willing to practice “open housing” (integration) at their properties.⁵

The Taylors sold the property where the College Motel once stood to NC A&T University.⁶

Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2024

Notes

1. Victor Green, 1957 Green Book, 46; Green, 1959 Green Book, 51; Green, 1960 Green Book, 73.
2. “$30,000 Motel Permit Raises June Figures,” The News and Record (Greensboro, NC), June 1, 1955, p. 7, accessed from www.newspapers.com; “Motel for Negroes to Open This Week,” The News and Record, February 26, 1956, p. 12, accessed from www.newspapers.com; “New Negro Motel Opens For Business Here,” March 4, 1956, p. 25, accessed from www.newspapers.com;  “Race Motel Opens in Greensboro,” The Carolina Times (Durham, NC), March 31, 1956, p. 7, http://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn83045120/1956-03-31/ed-1/seq-7/;  “College Motel” (advertisement), The Future Outlook (Greensboro, NC), February 22, 1958, p. 6, http://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn97064597/1958-02-22/ed-1/seq-6/…;
3. “Motel for Negroes to Open This Week,” The News and Record, February 26, 1956, p. 12, accessed from www.newspapers.com; “Race Motel Opens in Greensboro,” The Carolina Times (Durham, NC), March 31, 1956, p. 7, http://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn83045120/1956-03-31/ed-1/seq-7/;  “College Motel” (advertisement), The Future Outlook (Greensboro, NC), February 22, 1958, p. 6, http://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn97064597/1958-02-22/ed-1/seq-6/; Hill’s Greensboro City Directory, 1956-1958; “New Motel Open for Business,” The News and Record (Greensboro, NC), October 3, 1958, p. 34, accessed from www.newspapers.com; “Mason to Manage New Kent Court Motel Operation,” The Greensboro Record, October 2, 1958, p. 12, accessed from www.newspapers.com; “Skink” Browning, “Suitcase Stuff,” The Carolinian (Raleigh, NC), October 4, 1958, p. 10, accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn80008926/1958-10-04/ed-1/seq-10…;
4. Skink” Browning, “Suitcase Stuff,” The Carolinian (Raleigh, NC), October 4, 1958, p. 10, accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn80008926/1958-10-04/ed-1/seq-10…; William Chafe (interviewer) with John and Betsy Taylor (interviewees), oral history transcript, July 7, 1973, UNC Greensboro, accessed from https://gateway.uncg.edu/islandora/object/duke:54.
5. “John Russell Taylor,” Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/160421854/john_russell_taylor; William Chafe (interviewer) with John and Betsy Taylor (interviewees), oral history transcript, July 7, 1973, UNC Greensboro, accessed from https://gateway.uncg.edu/islandora/object/duke:54; William Chafe (interviewer) and Michael Weaver (interviewee), oral history transcript, July 6, 1977, accessed from https://libcdm2.uncg.edu/islandora/object/duke%3A62.
6.  “William Chafe (interviewer) with John and Betsy Taylor (interviewees), oral history transcript, July 7, 1973, UNC Greensboro, accessed from https://gateway.uncg.edu/islandora/object/duke:54.