America’s disbelief in Black intelligence runs the gamut, from the classrooms to football fields. Decades before Tony Dungy became the first Black head coach to win a Super Bowl, the Hall of Fame inductee was a stellar quarterback for the University of Minnesota. Because of anti-Black beliefs about our mental capacity to play QB in the NFL, Dungy was converted to a defensive back upon his NFL debut.
It was not until 2001 that America saw a Black quarterback as the No. 1 draft pick when the Atlanta Falcons selected Michael Vick from Virginia Tech. As the 2024 NFL season moves forward, 15 of the 32 starting quarterbacks are Black.
Shedding light on the history of Black quarterbacks in the NFL is the inspiration behind Vick’s documentary Evolution of the Black Quarterback. Co-produced by Vick’s wife, Kijafa, Vick wanted the three-part docuseries to pay homage to the heroes who came before him and the current Black quarterbacks in the NFL.
“People would tell me that I changed the game, but I always say to them: ‘No, Randall Cunningham, Donavon McNabb, Rodney Peete, Warren Moon, Doug Williams, Daunte Culpepper changed the game,’” Vick said during the premiere screening post-interview moderated by journalist Taylor Rooks inside The Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York.
In part one of the three-part docuseries, Vick traveled to Grambling State University (GSU) in Grambling, Louisiana, to speak with Doug Williams. Williams was the first Black quarterback to start in and win a Superbowl, winning against Hall of Fame inductee John Elway.
Vick also stopped by the home of James “Shack” Harris, who also played at GSU, and became the first Black quarterback to start in a playoff game in the NFL as a member of the Los Angeles Rams. In 1974, Harris was named to the NFC Pro Bowl Team and took home the MVP trophy for that game. The following year, he led the Rams to another division championship.
“I’m one of those guys, and I always told people it was those who came before me who paved the way for us to have the opportunity in the National Football League,” Vick said. “Now, the league is wide open. You can stand at that podium whether you’re Black or white, the No. 1 pick or No. 10 pick, and not be frowned upon. It’s a celebration of the NFL.”
Vick also sheds light on Fritz Pollard, a quarterback from Brown University, who led the team to the Rose Bowl during the 1915 season.
Despite the infinite contributions members of our community have made in all areas of life, we continue to face microaggressions and covert racism. Evolution of the Black Quarterback opens with Vick and Jalen Hurts, quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, discussing a reporter asking Hurts if he would consider switching positions—reminiscent of Dungy coming out of the University of Minnesota in 1976.
“They would ask if I was open to it, and I would respectfully say, ‘I’m a team-first guy. I always have been; I always will be, but I’m a quarterback,’” says Hurts in the film. “The stigmas that are placed on us, that one may place on you and try to put you in a box, but I always worked to allow my play to do the talking.”
Hurts, who was also in attendance at The Apollo, was asked what he has learned from Evolution of the Black Quarterback. He responded:
“The journey, the experience—there is no me without the guys who came before us.”
Last season, when Hurts faced Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl XLVII, it marked the first time two Black quarterbacks started in a Superbowl.
“The inspiration in that, all those moments—you carry that,” Hurts said during the interview. “In the present time, you don’t even realize you’re having that same impact on someone else that’s coming up.”
More important than shedding light on the history of Black quarterbacks, Evolution of the Black Quarterback reminds us that Black achievements are radical and political and that we can only be destroyed by believing that we are whatever negative stereotypes the world deems us to be.
Evolution of the Black Quarterback is streaming on Prime Video.
