Charlie and Sarah Fitzgerald opened Charlie's Place as a supper club in 1937. It became a stop on the Chitlin' Circuit, where black entertainers including Billie Holiday, the Mills Brothers, Little Richard, Ruth Brown, Otis Redding, and the Drifters performed during racial segregation. The Fitzgerald Motel, built in 1948, served black entertainers and travelers who could not stay in whites-only hotels. Oral tradition holds that the Shag, a form of southern swing dancing, originated there. White and black customers gathered there to listen to music and dance. In 1950, the Ku Klux Klan led a parade through The Hill, the African American neighborhood where Charlie's Place was located. The Klan later returned and fired shots into the club, injuring many people. Charlie was severely beaten but survived. Although some Klansmen were charged, no one was prosecuted.