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The Great Debaters
The Great Debaters is a 2007 American historical drama film directed by Denzel Washington from a screenplay by Robert Eisele and based on a 1997 article for American Legacy by Tony Scherman. The film follows the trials and tribulations of the Wiley College debate team in 1935 Texas. It stars Washington, Forest Whitaker, Kimberly Elise, Nate Parker, Gina Ravera, Jermaine Williams, and Jurnee Smollett.
The Great Debaters was released in theaters on December 25, 2007 to positive critical reception.
Based on a true story, the plot revolves around the efforts of debate coach Melvin B. Tolson at Wiley College, a historically black college related to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (now The United Methodist Church), to place his team on equal footing with whites in the American South during the 1930s. Jim Crow laws enforced racial discrimination and lynch mobs were still a risk for African Americans. The Wiley team eventually succeeds to the point where they debate a Harvard University team. (That is the film's version; in 1935, the Wiley College debate team actually defeated the reigning national debate champion, the University of Southern California.)
The movie explores racial social issues in Texas during the Great Depression, from the day-to-day insults that African Americans endured to the risk of lynchings. The activist James Farmer is portrayed; at the age of 14, he was admitted to Wiley and selected for its debate team after completing high school. (He later co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality). Another character on the debate team, Samantha Booke, is based on Henrietta Bell Wells, an acclaimed poet and the only female member of the 1930 Wiley team. She participated in the first collegiate interracial debate in the US.
The key line of dialogue, used several times, is a famous paraphrase of theologian St. Augustine of Hippo: "An unjust law is no law at all". (Martin Luther King, Jr. later made this the central thesis of his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."
Another major line, repeated in slightly different versions according to context, suggests doing what you "have to do" in order that we "can do" what we "want to do." In all instances, these vital lines are spoken by the characters of teenager James L. Farmer and his father James L. Farmer Sr, who taught at Wiley.
The film depicts the Wiley Debate team beating Harvard College in the 1930s. The real Wiley team instead defeated the University of Southern California, who at the time were the reigning debating champions. Wiley was not allowed to officially call themselves champions, despite defeating the reigning champions, because they were not full members of the debate society; blacks were not admitted until after World War II.
The Great Debaters was released in theaters on December 25, 2007.
The Great Debaters
The Great Debaters is a 2007 American historical drama film directed by Denzel Washington from a screenplay by Robert Eisele and based on a 1997 article for American Legacy by Tony Scherman. The film follows the trials and tribulations of the Wiley College debate team in 1935 Texas. It stars Washington, Forest Whitaker, Kimberly Elise, Nate Parker, Gina Ravera, Jermaine Williams, and Jurnee Smollett.
The Great Debaters was released in theaters on December 25, 2007 to positive critical reception.
Based on a true story, the plot revolves around the efforts of debate coach Melvin B. Tolson at Wiley College, a historically black college related to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (now The United Methodist Church), to place his team on equal footing with whites in the American South during the 1930s. Jim Crow laws enforced racial discrimination and lynch mobs were still a risk for African Americans. The Wiley team eventually succeeds to the point where they debate a Harvard University team. (That is the film's version; in 1935, the Wiley College debate team actually defeated the reigning national debate champion, the University of Southern California.)
The movie explores racial social issues in Texas during the Great Depression, from the day-to-day insults that African Americans endured to the risk of lynchings. The activist James Farmer is portrayed; at the age of 14, he was admitted to Wiley and selected for its debate team after completing high school. (He later co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality). Another character on the debate team, Samantha Booke, is based on Henrietta Bell Wells, an acclaimed poet and the only female member of the 1930 Wiley team. She participated in the first collegiate interracial debate in the US.
The key line of dialogue, used several times, is a famous paraphrase of theologian St. Augustine of Hippo: "An unjust law is no law at all". (Martin Luther King, Jr. later made this the central thesis of his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."
Another major line, repeated in slightly different versions according to context, suggests doing what you "have to do" in order that we "can do" what we "want to do." In all instances, these vital lines are spoken by the characters of teenager James L. Farmer and his father James L. Farmer Sr, who taught at Wiley.
The film depicts the Wiley Debate team beating Harvard College in the 1930s. The real Wiley team instead defeated the University of Southern California, who at the time were the reigning debating champions. Wiley was not allowed to officially call themselves champions, despite defeating the reigning champions, because they were not full members of the debate society; blacks were not admitted until after World War II.
The Great Debaters was released in theaters on December 25, 2007.