EP #83: Through the Banks of the Red Cedar with Maya Washington

Sunni and Lisa are joined by Maya Washington who talks about her
book THROUGH THE BANKSOF THE RED CEDAR:My Father and the Team
that Changed the Game.


Maya Washington is the award-winning Writer/Director and
Producer of Through the Banks of the Red Cedar and author of the
memoir by the same name. Maya’s multi-media work has garnered
fellowships and/or awards from Jerome Foundation, Minnesota State
Arts Board, Minnesota Film and Television, and others. She is a
2019 Commercial Directors Diversity Program finalist and workshop
participant, and a 2019 McKnight Fellow in Media Arts. In 2021
she teamed up with Committee Films as a guest director for the
Heidnik episode of the Fox series The Killer Next Door, and two
upcoming episodes of History Channel’s new show, I Was There,
which will debut in 2022. Her award winning film CLEAR, about a
woman connecting with her teenage daughter after a 16-year prison
sentence for a crime she didn’t commit, is streaming on Argo and
KweliTV. Her award-winning narrative film, White Space (starring
ABC Family Switched at Birth’s Ryan Lane) aired on network
television as a selection of African American Short Films and is
streaming on KweliTV. Maya began her creative career as a dancer
turned musical theatre actor in the Twin Cities vibrant theatre
community as a child performer. While at USC, she studied acting,
directing, film and dramatic writing, which allowed her to
explore her passion for storytelling in a variety of mediums,
later pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing at Hamline University.
Her background on stage/camera and behind the scenes has given
her the opportunity to work on everything from live theatre,
commercials and print ads, to web series, films and television,
and regularly publishes creative writing in esteemed literary
journals and reviews. She gives back to the next generation as a
speaker and workshop presenter, focusing on the development of
youth, arts, and education. As the Creative Director of Running
Water Entertainment, LLC, Maya is dedicated to projects that have
a sense of “purpose” in the world, selecting stories that
illuminate some aspect of the human experience that is untold,
rarely seen, or might benefit from new approaches to issues of
Diversity & Inclusion, primarily in America. Her projects
have had a global reach, including Toronto, Budapest, Hong Kong,
Berlin, and Rome.


Book Description

A warm and invigorating memoir about a daughter’s love for her
father and her appreciation for how he and others changed the
game of football forever.


Gene Washington’s football career ended long before his daughter
Maya was born. She never saw the legendary powerhouse as anything
but her dad. She didn’t yet grasp the impact he’d had on the
sport—and on America. To understand his historic role in the
integration of college football, witness his influence on
generations that followed, and fully appreciate his legacy, Maya
had a lot of catching up to do.


Maya retraces her father’s journey from the segregated south to
Michigan State during the peak of the Civil Rights Movement and
his journey as an NFL pioneer after the 1967 draft. She reflects
on how her father’s childhood—and the racism he faced—shaped her
upbringing and influenced his expectations of her. She also
discovers how unbreakable the emotional bond between teammates
can be. But above all, Maya and her father get to know each
other. As their own bond deepens, so does Maya’s connection to
the sport that changed the trajectory of her father’s life…and
hers.