Located on 7th and Elm Street in Bloomington Indiana sits the Banneker Community Center. However, this building was not always a community center. Above the entrance to the buildings is a carving in the limestone which reads “1915 Banneker School”.

In 1915  this school opened as a segregated school known as the Banneker School for Colored Children. According to the Indiana Historical Bureau the Banneker School was “named after Benjamin Banneker, a free black man born 1731 in Maryland. Banneker published scientific almanacs and was one of the surveyors who platted Washington, D.C.” In its first year the school had 93 students registered and a total of 3 teachers.

Benjamin Banneker portrait. (Photo courtesy of Boundary Stones)Benjamin Banneker’s Almanac.
(Photo Courtesy of the White House Historical Association)

However, in 1949 the Indiana General Assembly passed a law in which Indiana schools were required to begin integration. The historical bureau says the law required schools to stop the enrollment of students based on race or color.

Despite some reported protests against integration, segregation at the Banneker school ended in 1951. According to Bloomington City School Board minutes from July 10th of 1951, white students from the Fairview School transferred to the Banneker School, for the first time and the name was changed to the Fairview Annex. The school later moved to a new location on 8th Street and was renamed the Fairview School.

Since 1954 the bureau reported the Banneker School to have been used as a community center where  “the center offered programs for children, teenagers, and adults.”

The community center lives on to this day with a passion for inspiring the community and residents to reach their fullest potential, and to help with this goal is the Banneker Community Center Advisory Commission. Joy Roberts and Nichelle Whitney are two of the commission members. Roberts said she has been involved with the Banneker Center for many years. 

Modern day Banneker Center. (Photo courtesy of Limestone Post)

Whitney mentioned she had also volunteered at the Banneker Center for years before her current position on the Advisory Commission. Last week that Commission proposed two Black Lives Matter street murals to the Bloomington Arts Commission in effort to  further inspire the community and city to work toward racial justice. The first street mural is said to be painted on Elm street, running along the side of the Banneker Center. Whitney and Roberts both shared the importance of this location. 

The center is working to engage artists of color to create a concept and design for the collaborative street mural. Whitney said this is all part of a much larger national movement to honor and recognize the “challenges and existence of black people.” With this, the project proposed for the street murals is not only about spreading a message with paint on pavement, but active change. Whitney said the Banneker Advisory Commission is taking this chance to work with the city of Bloomington to create racial justice.

The second mural proposed by the commission currently has an undetermined location. However the commission desires that the mural will take place on a highly visited downtown Bloomington street. Whitney said this location would take on a more political stance than the fist mural, showing the city and county’s commitment to black lives. Roberts said this street mural may look more similar to the murals seen painted in other cities.

Fulton Street, New York, painted yellow with the words “Black Lives Matter,” (Photo courtesy New York Daily Times)

Roberts said the Banneker Advisory Committee is asking the city to fund the murals. She mentioned potential funding coming from funds reserved for events which did not take place due to COVID-19. Specifically, Whitney said they have been working specifically with city departments involved in overseeing the Black and Brown Arts Festival and other initiatives geared towards celebrating Black artists. She said the city has shown immense commitment to see the project through. However, Roberts said no specific location for funds has yet been determined. Regardless of where the funds come from, Roberts said she hopes to see a lasting impact.