The Black 14
June 4 – August 6, 2022
Pat Guthrie Special Exhibitions Teaching Gallery
The year was 1969, a time of demonstrations on college campuses across the United States for civil rights and to end the war in Vietnam. In October of that year, the University of Wyoming’s 14 Black football players wanted to take a stand against the Mormon Church’s policy of barring Black men from entering the priesthood by wearing black armbands during a home game against Brigham Young University, an institution run by the Mormon Church. The players, now known as the Black 14, were suspended from the team by Coach Lloyd Eaton, sparking debate and upheaval across the state and the country.
In conjunction with UW’s Black 14 Social Justice Summer Institute, the Art Museum is proud to host a film experience, featuring Black 14 (2018), a documentary short directed by Darius Clark Monroe and executive produced by Spike Lee. The documentary features 1969 footage and interviews with Black 14 players, Coach Eaton, UW President William Carlson, and Governor of Wyoming Stanley Hathaway. The installation also includes footage of the 1969 protests in Laramie courtesy of the American Heritage Center.
Funded through UW Art Museum Exhibition Funds.
Image: Darius Clark Monroe (American, b. 1980), Film still from Black 14 (2018), digital film, 14 minutes, 59 seconds, courtesy of the artist
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Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, placing Wyoming's only four-year
university with the top research universities in the United States.
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