In the first half of the 20th century, Windsor was home to a dynamic Black community located in the metropolitan core. Situated east of the downtown commercial district, the McDougall Street Corridor was a mostly self-sufficient African Canadian community bounded loosely by Riverside Drive, Goyeau Street, Giles Street, and Howard Avenue.
This historic neighbourhood emerged during the mid-19th century as African American freedom seekers and free people of colour crossed the Detroit River in search of refuge from enslavement and oppression.