CD-ROM is the result of a seven-year 'Journey'
Music, photos, interviews show African-American churches and cemeteries
BY CHRIS MURINO Staff Writer

Lawrence Walker

SOUTH BRUNSWICK - Lawrence Walker has clearly done a lot of work.

Seven years of work, to be exact. Seven years of interviewing, filming, capturing photographs and researching slavery and the underground railroad.

Now he will be releasing the tangible output of that work in the form of "Journey to Freedom: African-American Life in New Jersey (1638- 1932)."

"Journey to Freedom" includes a two-set educational CD-ROM - an original score with 18 tracks, and two educational books about African- American churches and cemeteries.

He will unveil his CD tonight at 6 p.m. at Delta's Restaurant on Dennis Street in New Brunswick.

Walker calls the CD-ROMencyclopedic in nature.

"It has about 3,000 documents, closer to 5,000 or 7,000 photographs, and film interviews with about 20 prominent historians," he said.

There are also videos of re-enactments from around the area, includingWilliamsburg, Va.

The musical score was composed by Aaron Brown.

"He took some music and recomposed it, so now it's mine," Walker said.

The two books are titled "Lest We Forget" and "Free at Last." The first book is about the history of African-American churches in the area, and the second is about African-American cemeteries. Both are more coffee-table books, with loads of photographs and a minimum amount of text.

Walker graduated from Kean University in 1976 with a degree in communications and T.V. After working for CBS in New York for seven or eight years, he left after getting a little discouraged with not moving up the ladder.

After moving outside the industry for a while, he got back in when he saw computers taking a larger role in film.

He eventually formed Bull's Eye Productions with Ronaldo Mack.

"At first we did small commercials for corporations on the side, just to get our name out there," Walker said.

Walker eventually decided he wanted to make a documentary in the Ken Burns style.

"I like how he puts together documentaries," he said.

He started out doing a documentary on the Tuskegee Airmen, but HBO had recently done a documentary on the same topic. When a friend showed him a photo album of black women in uniform during WorldWar II,Walker replied, "Wow, that's a lost history."

He went to the National Archive and grabbed about 800 to 900 photos of as many women as possible.

"The boxes on the cart had dust all over them," Walker said. "They had never been seen. They were stored away for probably 40 or 50 years."

His first documentary, "To Serve My Country, To Serve My Race," was played on PBS across the country in 1997 or 1998, Walker said.

In 2000, he began work on a new documentary, what was to become "Journey to Freedom." At first, he focused on the underground railroad.

"For one year, I gathered research materials," Walker said. "I went to the National Archives, the Library of Congress, every historical society in New Jersey."

His project was eventually narrowed down to focusing on slavery in New Jersey, and some focus on Pennsylvania and New York, because there was too much information for his original project dealing with the entire East Coast.

"Pennsylvania and New York are both so closely tied to the underground railroad," Walker said.

Most of the project was funded entirely by Walker.

"I figured once I get on a roll and start moving, people will see the merits of my way and will throw me some money," he said.

This was not quite the case. He applied for funding with GM, Western Union and Johnson & Johnson, among others, but was rejected in all cases.

"They all said they don't fund projects like this," Walker said. "I spent $170,000 over seven years."

He did receive $47,000 from the Underground Railroad Freedom Grant. Ninety percent of the money from this grant was used to create the CD-ROM.

However, the documentary he made may or may not be completed because of money constraints. He has it entirely filmed, but still needs to go into a studio to edit it and put it all together.

"I've gone as far as I can go financially," Walker said. "Researching, filming, shooting, that's the easy part. I got an enjoyment out of it. The difficult part is now putting it out there."

Walker says the most rewarding part of his work was just getting into history.

"Growing up in high school and college, I hated history," Walker said. "I didn't get into history until I started doing documentaries. I learned about history and places I never knew about."

It is not just black history he is interested in.

"When you learn about the blacks, you learn about people of the times," Walker said. "The Quakers, the abolitionists. They're important to know about."

Walker wants to get this package into the schools so they can learn history.

Last month, he met with the Amistad Commission, responsible for recommending curriculum that deals with African- Americans and slavery to schools. He said he's gotten a good reaction from them, but the commission cannot make the schools buy his materials, they can just recommend it.

"My key is just to get it out there," Walker said. "I felt like I've just scratched the surface. There's probably so much more to do."

Walker says it was never about the money for him.

"I wanted to be the first person to do something," Walker said.

"This is an encyclopedia. I haven't found anything like this anywhere in the state. It's the first of its kind."