Applications being taken for next year’s Black History banner nominees

People can submit names for future Black History banners between now and mid-July. 

Those selected will be included on the city of Dublin’s Black History banners and displayed during Black History Month in 2026. Every person recognized by the committee will be honored through the display of a pole banner hung throughout the downtown area between Jan. 3 until March 1. All of the local banners were selected from nominations submitted by the public. 

Applications for city of Dublin Black History Bbanners are now being taken, and can be found on the city of Dublin’s website by clicking on community, city initiatives and programs and then Black History Banner.

A form and instructions can be found there. People will need to complete this packet by the end of business on July 11. 

  “That website gives them the rubric we used on what we’re judging and the criteria that has to be met,” said Bennie Jones, chairman of the Dublin’s Black History Banner Committee. “They will have to submit a $50 application fee and a good photo to go along with that. We want a good photo. If they are selected, and the photo is not good, we’ll ask for another one because it has to be used on the banner.” 

During its first February meeting, the Dublin City Council heard a presentation where Dr. Benjamin Daniel Perry and Johnnie B. Hall had been named as the 2025 Black History Banner honorees. Both of the men’s families were at the meeting to receive plaques about the occasion from Jones, who also serves on the Dublin City Council. 

Valaya Burke, who led the ceremony that evening, said the city of Dublin’s Black History Banner Committee was created to recognize and honor individuals who made a positive impact within our city. Each individual recognized by this committee will be honored with a display of a pole banner hung throughout our historic downtown from Jan. 1 to March 1. The local nominees were selected from nominations submitted by the public, she said. 

Both Hall and Perry joined the following people who have previously received a Black History Banner: James Louis Ellington; Rev. Clarence Jackson Jr.; Ralph Daniel Sr.; Walter E. McCal; Willie Chester Burke; Herbert and Mayme Dudley; Emery C. Thomas; Warren McLendon Jr.; Dr. Henry Thomas Jones; John Wesley Pooler Sr.; Ruby Jefferson; Rev. James Robert Travick Jr.; Bonita Williams; Dent Jackson Jr.; Thomasenor Pearson; Roscoe Brower;  Charles Wesley Manning and the Magnificent Seven: Ceola Whipple Foreman; Gwendolyn D. Johnson Mack; Sharon Tucker; Betty McRae Wells; Sonja Ricks Mason; Doris Kellam; and Mattie M. McGirt Holmes.

“Each one of them have their own banner,” Jones said. “We could not put a group banner of them, and that is why we went with individual pictures.”

The city’s website also has information about everyone who has a banner in their honor. The banner committee began after the city council attended a National League of Cities convention where they saw the meeting space decorated with banners from around the world. Then-City Councilman Gary Johnson came back with the idea for celebrating black heritage and history with the banners. 

“We want people to support this,” Jones said. “If you know somebody who is deserving, submit their names. And if they don’t get it the first year, don’t be afraid to try again. Right now I think we’re limited to only have three new participants. We are looking to make it better, but we need more participation. We need them to submit the names because I know there are some people with history that we are missing.”