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Michigan State's Gene Washington blazed integration trail in East Lansing

Get a sneak peek at some of the films headed to this year's Freep Film Festival. Detroit Free Press

Gene Washington trekked 1,300 miles from Texas to Michigan State as a teenager, one of a several football players pulled from the racially divided Deep South in the 1960s by Duffy Daugherty.

Maya Washington relived that path, going on a journey with her father to revisit his escape from segregation and the Spartans’ role in integrating college football.

Through the power of film.

The finished product, a 70-minute documentary titled “Through the Banks of the Red Cedar,” makes its world premiere this weekend at the Freep Film Festival.