Welcome to the Hotel Metropolitan!

How does Black history get preserved in small towns?  Who decides what sticks around from our segregated past for future generations to learn from?  In this episode we learn about how Betty Dobson saved a little known gem from being destroyed forever.  Betty embarked on a journey to save and rehabilitate the Hotel Metropolitan in Paducah, Kentucky, founded by a Black woman in 1908, to serve Black travelers.  This journey was life-changing for her as it coincided with her rehabilitation of her own body after being diagnosed with MS.  

Betty Dobson dressed as Maggie Steed in front of the Hotel Metropolitan.

Image Courtesy Paducah Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Betty with her family.

Image Courtesy Betty Dobson.

Betty's mother, who has influenced so much of her life.

Image courtesy Betty Dobson.

The Hotel Metropolitan before renovation.

Image Courtesy Betty Dobson.

The Hotel Metropolitan as it was being renovated.

Image courtesy Betty Dobson.

The Hotel Metropolitan as it stands today.

I drawing of Lincoln HIgh School that hangs in the Hotel Metropolitan.

CB Calloway, Cab Calloway's grandson, standing in the upstairs bathroom of the hotel before renovation.

Image courtesy Betty Dobson.

The hotel bathroom as it appears today.

Betty is proud of the Mammy figure and displays a collection of mammy figures in the hotel.

The pressing comb invented by Annie Turnbo Malone.

An image of Ray Charles and his agent signed and addressed to Betty.

The bedroom where Ike and Tina Turner stayed.

Posters about who has stayed in the hotel hang in the hallway.

Transcript