As part of Black History month, the City of Windsor is renaming of a parkette in Sandwich Town.
Mayor Drew Dilkens says council unanimously approved the renaming of Mackenzie Hall Park to Mary E. Bibb Park.
"From the start of its introduction until it was approved, might have taken 30 seconds," says Dilkens. "It was a no brainer. All of the material had been provided by city administration to support the decision, the history on Mary Bibb and why and the connection to Sandwich Town. It was very very easy to have this approved and we were delighted to do it unanimously."
Bibb and with her husband Henry were publishers of "The Voice of the Fugitive," the first anti-slavery newspaper published in Canada by people of African descent.
Teajai Travis is a member of Mackenzie Hall's Friends of the Court volunteer group.
He says discussions started in 2016 to rename the park but the group made a formal request about a year ago.
"It's something that the community has been working on since 2016 and we had unofficially named the park Mary Bibb Park without much intention and going through the official procedures to have it officially named," says Travis.
He says a plaque has been set up at the park that speaks about Mary Bibb and her husband.
"My hope with the park being named Mary Bibb and with that information that's provided, it's just going to inspire people to talk a walk down the road to look at the murals that are down there and everything that comes up in the interim," says Travis.
According to Dilkens, the American born Bibb is considered to be the first female Black journalist in Canada.
Her husband Henry was from Sandwich Town.