08/20/2026
Some honors feel bigger than the moment. (https://businesswest.com/blog/springfield-museums-announce-2026-ubora-ahadi-award-recipients/)
I am deeply humbled to have been selected as the 2026 recipient of the Springfield Museums’ prestigious Ubora Award. Ubora is the Swahili word for “excellence,” and this award has been presented annually since 1992 to recognize extraordinary commitment to the Greater Springfield community through service, education, the humanities, the arts, and other fields.
BusinessWest described me as a faith leader, civil rights advocate, and community activist whose decades of service have advanced justice, equity, and spiritual leadership throughout Massachusetts and beyond. I receive those words with tremendous gratitude, because the work has never been about recognition, it has always been about the people, the struggle, and the responsibility to leave our community better than we found it.
This honor carries even deeper meaning because I now follow in the footsteps of my beloved uncle, Benjamin Swan, who received the Ubora Award in 2017. Uncle Ben was a giant in the civil rights movement of Western Massachusetts, a former president of the Greater Springfield NAACP, a state representative, and a lifelong servant of our community. To walk behind him in civil rights leadership, public service, and now as an Ubora recipient is profoundly humbling.
I am grateful for my parents, Fred and DeLois Swan, who planted the seeds of faith, service, dignity, and justice in me; for my wife, Cynthia, my children, siblings, family, church family, colleagues, and the countless people who have stood with me through the years.
I also congratulate Solara Abdelrahman, recipient of the 2026 Ahadi Youth Award. The Springfield Museums will formally present the awards on September 19.
I accept this honor with gratitude, but also with the understanding that excellence is not a destination. It is a responsibility.
The work continues.
Talbert Swan
