Lana Talbot, Willow Key, Irene Moore DavisLana Talbot and Irene Moore Davis flank history student Willow Key, whose research is at the heart of a project to tell the story of the McDougall Street Corridor.

Project to bring stories of Black community to life

Lana Talbot remembers walking down McDougall Street as a child, saying hello to each neighbour as she made her way through the close-knit community.

If she failed to acknowledge one of her elders, she could be sure word would have already reached her parents by the time she got home.

While many Black families were displaced from the area in the 1960s through post-war urban redevelopment, Talbot still lives in the neighbourhood house where she was born and raised. She shared her memories Thursday to a crowd assembled in Alton C. Parker Park to mark the start of a $235,000 project aimed at preserving the stories of Windsor’s McDougall Street Corridor.

“This project is so beautiful,” said Talbot, heritage director at Sandwich First Baptist Church. “We all lived here and we were a family,” she said. “We need to pull out our pictures and bring out our history.”

The project, funded by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario and administered by the Canadian Urban Institute, will create signage and a free app that can be used for self-guided or narrated tours.

It will build on a research project by Willow Key, a UWindsor Master’s student in history. In research funded through the UWindsor Anti-Black Racism Student Leadership Experience, Key worked with Leddy Library’s Heidi Jacobs and Sarah Glassford, and Irene Moore Davis of the Essex County Black Historical Research Society to collect the stories of the McDougall Street Corridor, a community hub for Black families in Windsor.

Key said it was fitting that the project announcement was held at Alton C. Parker Park. Parker was Windsor’s first Black police officer and the first Black detective in Canada. He was a president of the Central Citizen’s Association, a Windsor civil rights group that addressed systemic problems like racial discrimination in housing and employment.

“Contributions like Alton Parker’s are what we hope to capture through this project,” Key said. “We want to impress upon residents of Windsor that Black Canadians are here, have been here, and have fought to make Canada a more free and fair nation.”

Together with lead organization the Windsor Law Centre for Cities, Parallel 42 Systems is providing technical leadership on the project, one of four locally under the federal My Main Street Community Activator program.

At Thursday’s event, Windsor-Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk announced the funding.

Law professor Anneke Smit, director of the Windsor Law Centre for Cities, said the beauty of the project is how it builds and strengthens partnerships: “We aim to build collaborative teams like this one.”

The project received support from the UWindsor School of Creative Arts, Department of History, and Office of the Vice-President, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion; the City of Windsor; the Greater Essex County District School Board; the Windsor Public Library; the Black Council of Windsor; Hackforge; Wyandotte Town Centre and Downtown Windsor business improvement associations; and Windsor Eats.

In addition to educational opportunities for school and community groups, Dr. Smit said she hopes the project will draw visitors to Windsor for scooter and walking tours, with spinoffs for local businesses.

To contribute photos or stories to the project, contact Key at keyw@uwindsor.ca.

—Sarah Sacheli

graphic Summer Series on Teaching and LearningThe Summer Series on Teaching and Learning combines in-person and online sessions Aug. 8, 10, and 12.

Workshops to explore topics in teaching and learning

Do you want to develop confidence as an instructor while maximizing the likelihood of students achieving learning outcomes? Curious about activities that can help increase student engagement and aid in knowledge retention? Looking to extend your repertoire and consider practical ways of designing new assessment strategies?

Come to the 2022 Summer Series on Teaching and Learning for all this and more as we explore some foundational topics in teaching and learning. In these sessions, we will examine various strategies for incorporating active learning into your online or in-person classroom, helpful tips for planning your lessons, and an assortment of considerations for and examples of assessment methods.

This year’s Summer Series offers some in-person and online options and takes place Aug. 8, 10, and 12 from 10 to 11:30 a.m.

For more details and to register, visit: https://ctl2.uwindsor.ca/workshops/142/.

new recruits in uniformLancer coach Chris Cheng is happy with the 2022 class of recruits to men’s basketball.

Recruits bring size and skill to men’s basketball

Lancer men’s basketball head coach Chris Cheng says he is “very happy” with 2022 class of recruits, which includes Windsor natives Quinn Carey and Najee Brown-Henderson; guards Daniel Cummings, Yohann Sam, Jomel Puno; and centres Isaiah Scipio and Andrew Brayall.

“Not only did we add size, length, and enhanced skill sets, but we also brought in good students and people,” Cheng said. “We feel we check-marked all the needs for this upcoming season.”

See what he has to say about each of these new players at goLancers.ca.

The Lancers host the Northern Illinois Huskies in the NCAA/OUA Tip-off Classic at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 2, in the Dennis Fairall Fieldhouse. Admission is free.

forested shore of Lake SuperiorThe largest of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior holds 10 per cent of the world’s surface fresh water. Photo by Ray Fortner/Can Geo Photo Club.

Progress necessary on Great Lakes clean-up: researcher

The 1972 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement represented a commitment by Canada and the United States to co-operate in restoring and protecting the freshwater lakes — a revolutionary move that is still an international model, says John Hartig, a visiting scholar at the University of Windsor’s Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research.

In the half-century since, the countries identified 43 of the most polluted areas as “areas of concern,” and have improved nine of them to the point where they’re no longer listed, he notes in an article by Abi Hayward published in Canadian Geographic.

“It’s really important to celebrate 50 years and recognize how far we’ve come,” Dr. Hartig says. “But, you know, the ultimate goal is sustainability. That’s where we want to be, and we’re not there. So, we’ve got more to do.”

Read the entire piece, “A multination effort to restore the Great Lakes: A watershed moment.”