A drama based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at Wiley College Texas. In 1935, he inspired students to form the school's first debate team, which went on to challenge Harvard in the national championship.
Marshall, Texas, described by James Farmer, Jr. as "the last city to surrender after the Civil War," is home to Wiley College, where, in 1935-36, inspired by the Harlem Renaissance and his clandestine work as a union organizer, Professor Melvin Tolson coaches the debate team to a nearly-undefeated season that sees the first debate between U.S. students from white and Negro colleges and ends with an invitation to face Harvard University's national champions. The team of four, which includes a female student and a very young James Farmer, is tested in a crucible heated by Jim Crow, sexism, a lynch mob, an arrest and near riot, a love affair, jealousy, and a national radio audience.—<[email protected]>
Based on a true story, the plot revolves around the efforts of debate coach Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington) at historically African American Wiley College to place his team on equal footing with whites in the American South during the 1930s, when Jim Crow laws were common and lynch mobs were a pervasive fear for African Americans. In the movie, the Wiley team eventually succeeds to the point where they are able to debate Harvard University. This was their 47th annual debate team.
The movie also explores the social constructs in Texas during the Great Depression including not only the day-to-day insults and slights African Americans endured, but also a lynching. Also depicted is James L. Farmer, Jr. (Denzel Whitaker), who, at 14 years old, was on Wiley's debate team after completing high school (and who later went on to co-found C.O.R.E., the Congress of Racial Equality). According to the Houston Chronicle, another character depicted on the team, Samantha Booke, is based on the real individual Henrietta Bell Wells, the only female member of the 1930 debate team from Wiley College who participated in the first collegiate interracial debate in the United States. Wells also happened to be a minor African American poet whose papers are housed at the Library of Congress.
The key line of dialogue, used several times, is a famous paraphrase of Augustine of Hippo: "An unjust law is no law at all."Another major line, repeated in slightly different versions according to context, concerns 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 James L. Farmer Sr. and James L. Farmer, Jr. characters.Melvin holds tryouts for his debate team in the Wiley college & picks out the best including Samantha, Farmer Jr, Henry Lowe (Actually a convict himself), Hamilton Burges. Farmer Sr accidentally hits a farmer's pig with his car & is humiliated in front of his family & is forced to pay his entire month's salary to escape with his life. Henry & Samantha have a thing for each other & Farmer Jr (all of 14 years) has a crush on Samantha.
One night Farmer Jr follows Melvin & finds him trying to organize white & colored farm labor into a union to fight for their rights. When the police raid the premises, Melvin saves Farmer Jr.Melvin has a stranglehold on the debate team to the extent that he writes the arguments. Henry challenges this by starting to win debates with his own arguments. As the winning streak grows, Melvin uses the publicity to challenge ever more prestigious colleges, including Harvard. However, the winning streak is against colored colleges only & Oklahoma City College is the first white college to invite the Wiley team for a debate.
Hamilton Bruges confronts Melvin on rumors of his communist leanings (the union meetings & the fact that Wiley always debates pro welfare) & quits the team before it travels to Oklahoma.The debate team makes more progress but the sheriff arrests Melvin for communist activities. Farmer Sr intervenes & tells the Sherrif that his raid on Melvin's meeting was an illegal activity since the meeting involved white folks as well. That, & the African American mob outside, force the Sherrif to release Melvin, but he is deeply humiliated. Upon his arrest, Melvin loses the invitations from all the prestigious colleges in US & is forced to go on the road debating-colored colleges again. On one such travel the group witnesses a lynching & barely escapes. Samantha quits upon being subjected to this. without her Henry & Farmer Jr loose the next debate but get a surprise in form of an invitation from Harvard.
Henry explains to Melvin that she quit not because of the lynching but because she saw Henry drunk & having sex with another woman. Samantha comes back to battle Harvard. The team is forced to travel without Melvin since as per conditions of his bail, he cannot leave the state of Texas. The Harvard team knows Wiley reputation & the fact that Melvin writes the arguments. So, the Harvard debate team changes the topic and gives 48 hours to both teams to prepare with the same reference material. Without Melvin the team splinters until Henry (the new team captain) has a moment of inspiration & appoints Lawrence Jr to debate alongside Samantha, instead of himself. At the debate the Wiley team battle great odds to lift the trophy against an accomplished Harvard team on the topic of Civil Disobedience.
Historical backgroundThe film depicts the Wiley Debate team beating Harvard College in the 1930s. They did not debate Harvard, however. The debate depicted in the film instead mirrored the match-up between Wiley and the University of Southern California, who at the time were the reigning debating champions. Wiley College did indeed win this match-up. According to Robert Eisele: "In that era, there was much at stake when a African American college debated any white school, particularly one with the stature of Harvard. We used Harvard to demonstrate the heights they achieved."The film omits another reality: even though they beat the reigning champions, the Great Debaters were not allowed to call themselves victors because they were not truly considered to belong to the debate society; African Americans were not admitted until after World War II.
