In 1921, after graduating from Howard, Dr. Ossian Sweet moved to Detroit, Michigan, and soon established a medical practice in Black Bottom, a predominantly Black neighborhood.

At that time, a significant number of Black people moved to Detroit as part of a phenomenon known as the Great Migration. In fact, between 1910-1920 Detroit’s Black population increased by 600 percent. Black migrants to Detroit were able to make a living wage because of new job opportunities not afforded to them in the Jim Crow South and over time, established over 350 businesses such as hotels, clubs, shops, churches, and doctor’s offices in an area north of Black Bottom called Paradise Valley.