Join us for the Louisiana Premiere of the highly anticipated documentary, Through the Banks of the Red Cedar, written, directed, and produced by Maya Washington at the Louisiana International Film Festival.

THROUGH THE BANKS OF THE RED CEDAR (2018) Documentary Film In 1963 Michigan State Head Coach Duffy Daugherty gave 23 African American young men the opportunity of a lifetime. The daughter of football legend Gene Washington uncovers how the first fully-integrated college football team in America changed the game forever.

Gene Washington's professional football career ended long before his filmmaker daughter, Maya Washington, was born. As a result, Maya never fully explored her once famous father’s career or its impact on her life and on American history. In an effort to better connect with her father and appreciate the sport that changed the trajectory of his life, she retraces Gene’s footsteps from the segregated South to Michigan State, and later the NFL, throughout the course of a modern football season. Their father/daughter bond grows as Maya immerses herself in today’s college football culture, imagining what life was like for Gene and his teammates, the first fully-integrated college football team in America. 

Former players recall the highlights of the Minnesota Vikings’ “Purple People Eater” years, as well as the racial discrimination black players faced in the league, speaking to the overall impact African American pioneers had on players' rights, including free agency and the right to negotiate salaries. Her appreciation and gratitude for her father grows deeper as together they reveal how what happened 50 years ago is still relevant today.