NAACP honors Pueblo motel that was 'a safe port of call' for Black Americans during Jim Crow era
The Pueblo chapter of the NAACP capped off Black History Month this week by honoring the important role a local motel played in the lives of Black travelers during the Jim Crow era.
The Coronado Motel — formerly the Coronado Lodge — at 2130 Lake Ave., was listed in 1957 in "The Negro Traveler's Green Book", a guidebook that identified places that were safe for Black guests during a dangerous time to be traveling across a segregated country.
"Identified as a safe port of call, this location stood as a beacon of equality and light amidst the darkness of segregation during the Jim Crow and Civil Rights era when it was not popular," reads a plaque that was presented to the motel on Monday. "We acknowledge and thank you for your efforts and what you stand for."
More Black History Month: Roncalli STEM Academy students learn about notable Black artists
In 2020, nearly a century after the Green Book was first published in 1936, the motel was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Last year, the motel received the Stephen H. Hart award from History Colorado's State Historical Fund for its commercial, architectural and ethnic significance.
"We just wanted to honor the legacy of the Coronado Motel and what it represented during Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement," said Roxana Mack, president of the Pueblo chapter of the NAACP.
"It was a safe place for Black people to travel and know that they wouldn't be hunted down and killed just traveling throughout the United States. So, it's a significant institution here and we just wanted to show our appreciation for what it stood for," she said.
Jim Crow laws were state and local statutes that legalized racial segregation. They existed for about 100 years, from the post-Civil War era until 1968, and were meant to marginalize African Americans by denying them the right to vote, hold jobs, or get an education, among other things.
The husband and wife team that has owned and operated the motel for the last 30 years were originally drawn to the location for its unique adobe architecture and recently started to learn about the role it played in American history.
In 2018, Corrine Koehler of Historic Pueblo began researching if there were any Green Book locations in the area and found that the Coronado Motel is the only remaining structure in its original condition.
"It’s important to help people understand the history in our own backyard,” Koehler told The Chieftain last year.
Koehler began the campaign to get the site listed on the register, ensuring that the motel's unique place in history is now nationally recognized.
In tandem with the motel's national status, the Pueblo NAACP wants to ensure that the motel's significance is fully understood, locally and beyond.
"It needs to be recognized and people today need to know that it wasn't always that we could travel where we wanted to go, any time we wanted to go, wherever we wanted to go," Mack said.
"It was a feat and we were in fear of our lives a lot of times and just to have a place to say, 'You're welcome, that you're human, that you can stay here and not worry about it,'" she said. "'You can just have a good night's sleep and move on as you travel.'"
More Pueblo NAACP: 'Equality for everyone': Pueblo march celebrates Martin Luther King Jr.
Contact Chieftain reporter Lacey Latch at llatch@gannett.com or on social media @laceylatch.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo motel honored by local NAACP for Green Book history
