The Mesquite Online News - Texas A&M University-San Antonio

“Walk on the River” explores African-American culture in San Antonio

Dr. Sherita Love, the director of distance learning and institutional design, attended a screening of the film “Walk on the River,” which chronicles the times of freed blacks as they established communities, churches, schools and thriving businesses during the Jim Crow era. She said watching the movie was a humbling experience.

“The film gave me a sense of pride,” Love said. “We talk about how African-American culture is very invisible. To see this film, it made me want to learn more about African-Americans in San Antonio. I was filled (with emotion) when I left the movie and I may watch it again because I did buy me a copy.”

The film was featured as part of Texas A&M University-San Antonio’s Black History Month. The movie, by Melaneyes Media, was shown at 2 p.m. on Jan. 9 in the campus auditorium.

The film’s producer Baba Audar Ma’at and the film’s director Born Logic Allah conducted interviews with professors, historians, business owners, educators and citizens for an accurate picture of life for African-Americans in San Antonio.

Ma’at attended the film screening to answer questions. They said the film is a part of Black History and they wanted to share the history of African-Americans in San Antonio.

“We wanted to bring to the surface and to the community contributions and the achievements African-Americans have brought to the city,” Ma’at said. “The film itself is a great opportunity to see African-Americans between the year 1865 to 1965.”

Allah said in May 2017, they originally wanted to do a tour, but decided to do a film project instead.

“One day we were having a conversation behind the Carver Cultural Center,” Allah said. “Brother Andar was pointing out all of the historical black buildings on the same corner. We talked about possibly doing something with this knowledge. Then we talked about how not many people standing here would know about the history on this same corner.”

Ma’at said the process of making the film was a challenging project.  He said it went from an idea they were just thinking about to something they actually got started and produced. 

Ma’at, who created the film “Message to the people: A story of Malcolm X,” said the film is a voice to African-Americans.

“This is our voice and no one else can tell our stories but us,” Ma’at said.

According to the website www.walkontheriver.com, the film documents the history and contributions of African-Americans throughout the city since the Emancipation proclamation. It also features influential people of the community such as Nettie Hinton, Rudyard Hilliard,M.D., and many more.

For more information, visit the website: http://www.walkontheriver.com/ or send an email to melaneyes3@gmail.com.

About the Author

Sasha D. Robinson
Sasha D. Robinson graduated from San Antonio College in 2018 with an associate degree in journalism. After school, he worked for the Castroville News Bulletin before making the decision to go back to school for his bachelor’s in communication at Texas A&M University-San Antonio. While attending school, Sasha has written articles for The Mesquite and the 49ers Webzone. He is a producer for VYPE Media. Sasha's career goals are to be a sports radio personality. Sasha's first love is football, and he is a die-hard San Francisco 49er fan, and his favorite video game character is Mega Man. He also loves movies such as “Star Wars “(not the Disney ones), the first two “Terminator” movies, “Star Trek” and the “Fast and Furious” series. He is an avid lover of music, video games and anything creative in this crazy world.

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