Two former premiers will be celebrated at Black History Month dinners.

Dame Jennifer Smith, who led the Progressive Labour Party to its historic first General Election victory in 1998, will be honoured at an event next Wednesday.

Sir John Swan, who was premier under the United Bermuda Party government from 1982 to 1995, will be the star guest on February 23. Both dinners will be held at the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club.

During the dinners, members of the public will get the opportunity to rub shoulders with the honourees at a short reception and hear them talk about their experiences before a three-course meal with the menu picked by Dame Jennifer and Sir John to reflect black Bermudian culture.

Some of the proceeds will be donated to charities chosen by the ex-premiers.

Dame Jennifer said: “I think this is a wonderful way to celebrate black Bermudian history and culture and I look forward to sharing my experiences.”

Sir John added: “Too often, the focus of Black History Month is on American history in this time, so this is a nice way for us to bring it home to Bermuda.”

Dame Jennifer’s menu will include Bermuda onion tart, grilled wahoo with oven-dried cherry tomatoes and black olives with bread and butter pudding for dessert. Her chosen charity is the Bermuda Heritage Museum.

Sir John’s picked a codfish breakfast, crispy yard bird and “good ol’ apple pie”, with a donation to go to the Salvation Army.

Tim Morrison, general manager of Hamilton Princess, said: “We are excited to be celebrating Black History Month by honouring a couple of great Bermudians.”

Both of the dinners will be accompanied with Bermudian cocktails. The dinners cost $90 per person, plus gratuities or $130 including wine pairings, plus gratuities and will start at 7pm.

Tickets can be bought from www.ptix.com.