On the 35th anniversary of Art Shell’s appointment as the first Black head coach of the modern football era, Raheem Morris will take the field on Thursday, Oct. 3, as the first permanent Black head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.  Join for a panel discussion on Wednesday, Oct. 2, hosted by the Morehouse College Journalism in Sports, Culture and Social Justice Department, will celebrate the progress and sacrifice that made this moment possible for the city and America's game.

“Better Than They Found It” will discuss the many overlooked ways Black NFL head and assistant coaches have contributed to the growth in skills, strategy and popularity of the league since Pittsburgh hired Lowell Perry as the NFL’s first Black assistant coach in 1957. The discussion also will cover various ways people inside and outside of the NFL encouraged the league to increase diversity among its head coaches, to the point that now there are nine non-white head coaches, an all-time high. Six of those head coaches are Black.

Journalism Department Chair Ron Thomas will narrate after writing many articles about the lack of black head football coaches. New Morehouse coach Terance Mathis loves journalism and has appeared on many sports talk shows. This event is based on a documentary film being made by panelist Tarana Harris Mayes, a broadcast journalist whose father, Chick Harris, was an NFL assistant coach for 33 years. And Darryl Ledbetter has been the Atlanta-Journal Constitution’s Falcons beat reporter for 20 years.

Light refreshments will be available at 5 p.m. in Dansby Hall, Room 200, and the panel discussion starts at 6.