A community of freed black migrants formed shortly after the Emancipation in the lower-lying area of the neighborhood, originally called Needmore, coming to be known as Little Africa.
Leaders such as black poet Joseph S. Cotter Sr. supported efforts to improve the area, yet it continued to stand in contrast to the wealthier and more developed partition of Parkland's white inhabitants.
Material deterioration led to Little Africa's 1948 demolition to make way for several urban renewal projects, including one named after Cotter.
[4] In 2015, the former Boxing Commissioner of Pennsylvania, George Bochetto, along with a real estate investor, Jared Weiss, bought Muhammad Ali's childhood home located at 3302 Grand Avenue in the Parkland section of Louisville.
Both Bochetto and Weiss hope that the renovation will help promote further pride and growth in the Parkland section of Louisville.