Black History Month is a month that Stamford native and state Rep. Hubert Delany says is incredibly important to him.

Delany served in the military for several years before taking on a new role as state representative.

Taking a trip down memory lane on Bedford Street, Delany credits his ancestry for shaping him into the person he is today.

"My great-grandfather, Hubert Thomas Delany I, was a civil rights icon. An advisor to a lot of civil rights leaders. And the attorney for Martin Luther King," Delany says.

Delany says as a kid, he became involved in the Stamford community and joined organizations like the Urban League and the National Black MBA Association.

"If you're a young person of color and you go to a Town Hall and you see the members of the community standing up like you, it makes you more confident in your ability to go up there," he says.

Delany says he believes the key to being a good leader is listening four times and speaking once.

Representing the 144th district in Stamford, Delany is reflecting on the past while looking to the future.

"To be a mirror and a torch. A mirror, so that others can see themselves where I stand. And a torch, to be able to pass on to others to be able to lift people up. That's what was done for me, and that's my responsibility to do that for others," Delany says.