Cultural Corridor Banner program celebrates Black History month

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)-- The new Cultural Corridor in Downtown highlights diverse people who have helped shape our Colorado Springs community.

It's part of a project started by Downtown Ventures with the help of the Pioneer's Museum. Each banner highlights a different influential African American representing different eras in Colorado Springs history.

"We said let's better honor and acknowledge the history of our community and the people whose stories aren’t often told," said Susan Edmondson, President & CEO of the Downtown Partnership of Colorado Springs

The banners start on Cascade and Pikes Peak and go down to Nevada. One of those banners includes Reverend Dr. Milton Proby.

"My father pastored the same church for 47 years in Colorado Springs," said James Proby, his son.

Proby was more than a pastor of St. John's Baptist Church, he was also a civil rights leader.

"Having a father who was at the real head of the civil rights movement across the country provided me a very unique insight into race relations and diversity and inclusion and equality conversation growing up my entire life," said Proby.

Reverend Dr. Milton Proby joins eight other influential African Americans honored in the Cultural Corridor.

It's a sentiment that means a lot to James Proby.

"In 2005, I did a lot of interviews where I was saying we need to recognize the achievements of ethnic minorities and what they’ve done to enhance and create Colorado Springs as a community, and for a lot of that time it literally felt like I was screaming into a wind facing me and no one heard me."

He sees this as a step in the right direction.

"So we can realize that this is not a community built exclusively on white male landowners, that we are a diverse community that has provided a great deal the community of Colorado Springs," said Proby.

Each banner has a QR code on it, so you can scan them and read more about each person being honored.

The banners will be up until the end of the month. They'll be switched out for Women's History Month in March.