Discussing the 'Black 14'

During the tumultuous 1960s, it was a blip on the Civil Rights timeline. A coach kicked 14 black football players off his team because of their beliefs and protest against a Mormon Church policy. But the events in Wyoming in 1969 led to questions about freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

'Niyi Coker, Jr., produced and directed a PBS documentary, 'The Black 14,' which recalls events at the University of Wyoming and includes current interviews with the players, all now successful businessmen.

Coker, director of African American Studies at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, will show his film and discuss it at Grand Valley on Thursday, February 5, at 6 p.m. in the Cook-DeWitt Center at the Allendale Campus. Sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs and part of GVSU's Black History Month celebration, the event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 616-331-2177.

On October 18, 1969, 14 Wyoming football players wore black armbands on their uniforms to protest a Mormon Church policy against allowing African-Americans to become priests. The coach refused to let them wear armbands and kicked them off the team. His decision led to a unique U.S. Constitution issue: whether or not black armbands violate the separation of church and state.

Coker received a MFA degree in directing from City University of New York and a doctorate in African American Studies from Temple University. An accomplished director and actor, Coker also wrote a book, The Life and Music of Fela Kuti, about the Afrobeat musical legend.