By Destiney Dingess, The Herald Dispatch
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — More than 50 community members, friends and loved ones gathered at the A.D. Lewis Community Center on Sunday evening to celebrate the 77 honorees featured in this year’s Black History Month downtown street banner program.
The banners recognize people who have ties to Huntington and who have made significant contributions on a city, state or national level.
“We are starting to mark Black history in Huntington on a whole other level,” said RaShad Sanders, executive director of the Fairfield Community Development Corporation and committee chair for the banner program. “This will live online for generations to come; your children’s children will be able to teach their kids about the great things that individuals did right here in the Fairfield community and the city of Huntington on a state, national and international level.”
The street banner program, created from an idea Huntington Mayor Steve Williams came up with several years ago, aims to honor and highlight Black individuals who have impacted the community on either a large or small scale.
“Starting with Carter G. Woodson, Black History Month, he is the father of it. Huntington must own Black History Month as far as I’m concerned,” Williams said.