Reserve Tickets for Free Screening of ‘Echoes from The Hill’ at Denton Black Film Festival, Jan. 27, 2023
By Susan Schrock, Office of Communication
Posted on January 12, 2023, January 12, 2023

Echoes from The Hill

Residents have a new opportunity this month to catch the first episode of a compelling docuseries that explores what life was like for Black residents in a small Arlington community known as The Hill.

“A Place of Our Own” is among films that will be featured during the 2023 Denton Black Film Festival, set for Jan. 25-29. The free screening, followed by a filmmaker panel discussion, is set for 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27 at the Campus Theatre, located at 214 W. Hickory St. in Denton. Click here to reserve a ticket to the screening.

The Hill was the only historic addition platted specifically for Arlington’s African American residents. The docuseries’ first episode features photos, maps, documents and excerpts from interviews with Black residents and their descendants who lived in this community.

Interviews include the Rev. Carl Pointer, Bob Ray Sanders, Randy Parker, Bertha Jones, Geraldine Mills and Beverly Jackson on topics ranging from segregation to influential church and business leaders to the vibrant night life in The Hill. Additionally, it features scholars Gene B. Preuss, Ph.D., and W. Marvin Dulaney, Ph.D., who explore African American life in North Texas after emancipation as well as the history of racial control that would evolve into Jim Crow laws. Click here to watch the trailer for the first episode.

The Arlington Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee, which sponsored the first episode of the planned five-part Echoes from The Hill documentary, initially hosted a public screening of “A Place of Our Own” during the 2022 Arlington Juneteenth Jubilee.

King Hollis and Lindell Singleton directed the documentary. It was produced by Southroad Pictures, with associate producers Geraldine Mills, Anthony Cisneros and Shirley Adams and executive producers Lemuel Randolph, Lisa Thompson, Jennifer Wichmann, King Hollis and Lindell Singleton. The project was funded by the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation.

Interested in learning more about The Hill? Visit the Arlington Public Library's Black History Community Archive. This digital collection, created and hosted by the library, provides free searchable access 24/7 to many of the historical photos, recordings, and documents that will be featured in the “Echoes from The Hill” documentary projects.

For more information about the documentary, visit the Echoes From The Hill website.


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