The Baltimore Ravens are not any strangers to being on the forefront of constructing historical past in relation to placing African Individuals in positions of nice energy, affect, and status.

Whereas they’re solely certainly one of 13 groups which have but to make use of a black head coach, they’ve solely been round since 1996 and have had simply three head coaches in franchise historical past. Nonetheless, they have been the primary group to ever title an African American as their Normal Supervisor after they promoted Ozzie Newsome from vp of participant personnel to their official head entrance workplace govt in 2002.

For the previous two seasons, the Ravens have carried two black quarterbacks on their lively roster to start out the common season. That development will proceed this yr as each Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley are again and so they even added a 3rd in 16-year veteran Josh Johnson.

What makes this yr’s quarterback room historic is that it’s believed to be the primary in NFL historical past to thoroughly include African Individuals which incorporates Quarterbacks Coach Tee Martin and Assistant Quarterbacks Coach Kerry Dixon.

Baltimore Banner’s Kris Rhim wrote an eloquent and completely reported article on the subject throughout coaching camp final month when he spoke to a number of members of the history-making group together with Martin and Johnson in addition to an early pioneer of the sport in Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame quarterback Warren Moon.

“What the Ravens have proper now’s positively groundbreaking, even in 2023,” writer of Rise of the Black Quarterback: What It Means for America, Jason Reid instructed Rhim. “The importance of it’s that we at the moment are within the period of the Black quarterback within the NFL.”

Now that their common season opener is simply days away and the roster is ready, what many believed would by no means be doable is really beginning to turn into a actuality.

All through the historical past of the league and even by way of the primary 20 years of this century, African Individuals have been discouraged and blatantly prevented from pursuing skilled careers taking part in or teaching the quarterback place.

The reasoning and rhetoric behind their exclusion from being concerned with crucial place in all of sports activities was deeply rooted within the racist stereotypes related to African Individuals on the time the league was created and the many years that adopted.

For over 100 years, African-American gamers at each stage of the game have been inspired or instructed to modify positions as a result of it was broadly and falsely believed that they didn’t possess the mental capability or psychological fortitude for the pains that got here with being a quarterback.

Over that very same time period and to this present day, melanated have been and are nonetheless being handed over and neglected in relation to alternatives to educate the place. In at this time’s NFL the place offense reigns supreme and the quickest path to changing into a head coach or offensive play caller is to be instantly concerned with teaching and growing quarterbacks, not being on condition that probability prevents aspiring coaches from transferring up the ranks and attaining their profession objectives.

Hopefully, the Ravens being trailblazers on this approach will encourage different franchises to be extra open and receptive to what have lengthy been the norms when deciding who can groom the following era of black quarterbacks. They’re not going anyplace and their numbers will solely proceed to develop now as the sport evolves and requires the perfect athletes to play its most essential place and so they see gamers that appear to be them taking part in it on the highest stage.