New San Antonio Eastside mural pays homage to Black culture

SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio’s Eastside historically has the largest concentration of African Americans across the city, and a new mural pays homage to community trailblazers and Black culture. 

“I think portraiture has the biggest potential for change and influence,” said artist Kaldric Dow.

Dow’s newest mural, called “Heirlooms: Eastside Pride,” now stretches across 600 feet of the Nolan Street underpass’ walls. 

“Whether it’s Black bodies on a canvas or on mural, its representation,” Dow said. “You want to see yourself in something larger than yourself. Represent the history and the things we went through, and to look for a future of something bright and colorful.”

Inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, Dow used images from EBONY and Jet magazines during the ’60s and ’70s.  

“Still got people that are alive and well from that era,” Dow said. “So it wasn’t that long ago.”

The mural shows several famous faces, including track star Florence Delorez Griffith Joyner, also known as Flo-Jo, and some local heroes. 

“R.A. Callis came up a lot, who started the MLK march,” Dow said. “A lot of his past students were like, ‘He got us out there to march.’”

As a tribute to San Antonio’s historically Black neighborhood, Dow included about a dozen Eastside street signs on the mural. One is Chestnut Street, where the first African Americans settled after emancipation, as well as Commerce and Hackberry.

“Performers couldn’t perform in the city, so they’d go there and perform,” Dow said. “That was the only place they could perform. All of these streets kind of have important means for the Eastside.”

Like Easter eggs, subtitle nods to Black culture are sprinkled throughout the mural. 

“You’ve got the community passing back and forth,” Dow said. “There’s kids in the car that look at it, and these images look just like them.”

Dow worked with local students to create another mural nearby in St. Paul Square. He said he hopes art empowers future generations to think bigger.

“For them to see something on such a large scale that’s in the form of art, it makes you feel good about yourself,” Dow said. “And that you know you can do something bigger. There’s something more than what’s going on around you.”

Dow said he hopes to see more art that reflects culture in the city — projects that remind folks they belong.

“Who would have knew with art you could make an impact like that?” Dow said. “Inspire but also represent a culture.”