The Great Debaters

The Wiley college debate team is one of the most well known debate teams in America. In 1997 Tony Scherman wrote an article for the American Legacy. This article brought a lot of new attention to the debate team. This article became so popular that a documentary was made in 2005 by AMS Pictures. But without a doubt most of the popularity came from the 2007 movie produced by Oprah Winfrey, The Great Debaters. This movie was a big hit with almost everyone, it was a very educational video about everything that the African American race had to go through in the south. This movie not only educated the adults of America but also the younger generation, the younger generation don't usually watch documentaries, so this movie was a great eye opener for many. In this movie Denzel Washington plays as Melvin B. Tolson, and Denzel Whitaker plays as James L. Farmer, Jr., the 14 year old prodigy child. Jurnee Smollett-Bell who played as Samantha Booke is slightly based on Henrietta Bell Wells. The two other debaters are fictional, and there was no female on the team in 1935 when they competed against University of Southern California, not Harvard University. The real names of the two other people that were on the debate team are Hobart Jarrett and Henry Heights. In reality the team traveled west, not north to debate all-white colleges.

The Great Debaters takes place in Marshal Texas, and most distinctly, Wiley college. Wiley college is an all-black college. This college became very popular when Melvin B. Tolson had tryouts for the debate team and out of 72 people only four were selected. These for people were very different from one another personality wise, which created great synergy for the debate team. Throughout the movie one ...

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...hat this was a great movie and it showed all the hard things that African Americans had to go through. This movie had everything from racism, to beatings and even lynching. This movie really shows the hard times for the black communities and the white communities because of the racism and the great depression. I think that it is very courageous of what Melvin B. Tolson was doing. He was not only leading a debate team versus all-white colleges for the first time, but he was also leading a union for blacks and whites. The things that African Americans had to go through in the south is very heartbreaking and this movie does exactly what it showed and shows what people had to go through. One of the main things that this movie focuses on is being passionate and always trying to reach your goal and not stopping. This is a very important lesson that all people should know.