In honor of Black History Month this year, KSAT Explains is highlighting three entities that work to preserve and share black history year round.
The Observer
The San Antonio Observer is a local African American weekly publication founded in 1995 by Hussien Ali.
His son, Waseem Ali, is now the owner.
“We pride ourselves on being the pulse beat of the community, being in tune with the African American community,” Waseem Ali said.
His response when asked whether The Observer is a publication for African Americans?
“You know, that’s always been a myth. And that’s why it’s actually a good question,” he said. “It’s important that people who don’t look like me are interested in the things that are happening in this community. That’s how you bring about change. The exchanging of ideas and understanding where the other side is coming from.”
When the paper got started, it was created inside Ali’s garage, which resembled a newsroom back then, behind his East Side home.
Today, The Observer still offices out of that same garage, but the hustle and bustle inside is gone.
“We’re in a digital age so everything is done via computer,” Ali said.
The garage walls are covered in some of The Observer’s most memorable covers, which have been known to be provocative.
“You know, my father... his idea was ‘We’re going to be like the New York Post,’” Ali said. “We’re going to come with these hard hitting covers that just grab your attention.”
While The Observer has chronicled local Black history for nearly three decades, the publication has also become part of it.
“Every week is a snapshot in time for the city of San Antonio as to what’s happening in the city,” Ali said. “Every week for us is Black history.”
The Observer is free and available weekly at select H-E-B stores and online here.
The Carver
The Carver Community Cultural Center is a multicultural performing and visual arts center steeped in local history.
“We celebrate the diverse cultures of our local, national and global community through the arts, but we do have an emphasis on celebrating the art forms and artistic expressions of the Black community,” said Cassandra Parker-Nowicki, Executive Director of The Carver.
Located on North Hackberry Street, The Carver was once the only library open to Black San Antonians during segregation.
There is still an etching above the doors of the theater that reads “The Colored Branch of the San Antonio Library and Auditorium,” which dates back to the dedication of the building in 1929.
“It’s really important for us to be true to our history and the reason that we exist,” Parker-Nowicki said.
The Carver has long been a place for community gatherings and performances.
“Just all of the great legends, right? So Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, you name it, they probably performed here on this stage,” she said.
Parker-Nowicki said the importance of having a place so immersed in the Black history of San Antonio is affirmed by its visitors every day, nearly a century after it opened.
“We, one, want to celebrate the diversity of our city,” she said. “But we also want to be sure that those individuals in the community who haven’t historically seen themselves represented on stages or in galleries have that opportunity here.”
SAAACAM
The San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum, or SAAACAM, was established in 2018 when preparation to celebrate the city’s Tricentennial highlighted a lack of local resources documenting the contributions of African Americans in the Alamo City.
SAAACAM is located in a small, two-room facility in La Villita.
But not for long.
The museum has plans to relocate and expand in the old Kress-Grant Building on East Houston street downtown.
“This building is currently 715 square feet and we’ll be moving into a building that’s 103,000 square feet,” said SAAACAM Exhibits Supervisor Taylor Foots. “So quite the jump.”
SAAACAM exhibits are always expanding thanks in part to its annual History Harvest.
“Our archive team goes out to different places around the city -- churches, senior centers, different cultural events -- and they collect the stories of people who are in attendance of those,” Foots said.
The community archive and museum collects everything from articles and photos to recipes and oral, recorded histories.
SAAACAM highlights the history and contributions of people in the local Black community like GJ Starnes, the first local African American surgeon in 1884, and Lillian Andrews, a 17-year-old activist who helped desegregate lunch counters in San Antonio.
And more.
“I have a favorite story that I learned just from working here that I feel like isn’t well enough known. And that’s the story of Hattie Briscoe,” Foots said.
Briscoe was a beloved teacher who was fired without cause from Phyllis Wheatley High School.
“And because of that, she decides to become a lawyer and ends up being the first Black female graduate from Saint Mary’s Law School and the only Black female attorney in Bexar County for about 30 years,” Foots said.
“When you don’t know your history or it’s lost or overlooked you don’t feel, I think, a desire to aspire to something greater,” she said. “All you have is what you see around you. And when you know your history, you know what you can overcome and you know what you can achieve.”
