The theme for the movie is the Power of Education, because just with that power, its can bring you to success.
What is the purpose of The Great Debaters?
“The Great Debaters” is about an underdog debate team that wins a national championship, and some critics have complained that it follows the formula of all sports movies by leading up, through great adversity, to a victory at the end. So it does.
What is the setting of The Great Debaters?
The story takes place in 1935 in Marshall, Texas, where Wiley professor Tolson (Washington) selects, trains and polishes four young debaters. The youngest, James Farmer Jr.
Who is the antagonist in The Great Debaters?
The camera shot then cuts back to the swamp and the audience is then introduced to an important protagonist/antagonist, Henry Lowe, who is captured flirting with a lady in a juke joint, while Blues music plays at an increasing rhythm throughout the opening sequence and Page 3 BOYLAND: FILM ANALYSIS; PAGE 3 of 8 every
Is The Great Debaters historically accurate?
Three of the four debaters were fictional. The film’s writers took half of the names of authentic debaters and changed their last names. Hamilton Boswell became “Hamilton Burgess,” complete with the use of Boswell’s nickname, “Ham.” Henry Height became “Henry Lowe.” There was no woman on the team in 1935.
What is the conflict of The Great Debaters?
The Great Debaters is based on a true story of three African-American students faced with the escalating conflict of racism in the 1930’s, with their English College Professor, Melvin B. Tolson bringing them together to create the first African-American debate team.
Who is the protagonist of The Great Debaters?
Movie Review: The Great Debaters (2007)
Denzel Washington plays Melvin Tolson, the harsh, but considerate debating coach at Wiley College by day, and southern farmer’s union organizer and advocate by night.
What was Tolson doing with the farmers?
What was Tolson doing with the farmers? Trying to help them make a union.
Why do you think debating Harvard is so important to Tolson?
Why is debating Harvard is so important to Tolson? This is so important to Mr. Tolson because he believes in his heart that his team of debaters can beat the Harvard team. Also he is happy that such a big school is interested in competing with them.
How old is Mr Farmer?
Farmer, one of the Big Four civil-rights pioneers who advocated non-violent protests to dismantle segregation, died Friday. He was 79. Mr. Farmer, who had been ill in recent years, died in a hospital, according to Ron Singleton, a spokesman for Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Va., where Mr.
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Who was the greatest debater in history?
Throughout history there have been many great debaters and masters of argument, but the one man who excelled beyond many others at this ability was Abraham Lincoln.
What was the incident with the pig in The Great Debaters?
One example of this racial divide in The Great Debaters is a scene when James Farmer Sr. runs over a white man’s pig. The two white pig farmers who owned the pig confront him about it: “You killed my hog…. It’s gonna cost you $25” (The Great Debaters, 2007).
What did the Wiley College debate team debate debate about?
Tolson’s debate teams lost only one of 75 debates. Wiley’s debate team competed against historically black colleges and earned national attention with its 1935 debate against University of Southern California’s highly ranked debate team.
Wiley College.
| Former names | Wiley University |
|---|---|
| Mascot | Wiley the Wildcat |
| Website | wileyc.edu |
Why wont James tell his father where he was?
Why won’t James tell his father where he was? He promised not to. Whose argument does Henry use to win the first debate competition?
What does it mean to be born without record?
What does it mean to be born without record? Negroes were not given birth certificates when they were born.
Was Tolson a communist?
Tolson was a “Communist,” “radical” or “self-described socialist.” During the 1930s, Tolson had his feet in two different worlds—one foot was in the world of the aspiring black middle class of Wiley College, and the other foot was in the world of the black dispossessed masses of the rural South.
Why is James Farmer important?
He earned national prominence as one of the foremost leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. Some of his other outstanding accomplishments include: 1942 – Organized the nation’s first civil rights sit-in in Chicago. 1942 – Founded the Congress of Racial Equality, also known as CORE.
What was the significance of James Farmer?
James Farmer was a distinguished Civil Rights leader, who in 1942 established The Congress Racial Equality (CORE ). He served as the National Director of CORE from 1961 to 1966.
Who was James Farmer and why was he significant?
In 1942 he cofounded CORE, which originated integrated bus trips through the South, called Freedom Rides, to challenge local efforts to block the desegregation of interstate busing. Farmer, who sought racial justice by means of nonviolence, was often a target of racial violence himself.
Where was The Great Debaters filmed?
Shreveport
Been there: “The Great Debaters” was filmed mostly in the Shreveport area, but it wasn’t their first time in the Bayou State for much of the cast: Denzel Washington filmed “Deja Vu” in New Orleans in 2006.
Who are the three main characters in The Great Debaters?
The film begins with Tolson choosing his debate team for the 1935-36 school year. He decides on four students: Hamilton Burgess (Jermaine Williams); the well-read but undisciplined Henry Lowe (Nate Parker); the first woman to join the team, Samantha Booke (Jurnee Smollett); and the fourteen-year-old James Farmer, Jr.
Why is Tolson unable to go to Harvard with the debaters?
Why is Tolson unable to go to Harvard with the debaters? He isn’t allowed to leave the state because he is blacklisted and it is all apart of the deal of his bail from the earlier encounter with the police. Mr. Tolson doesn’t want to jeopardize this opportunity for the debaters.
Why wont James tell his father where he was?
Why won’t James tell his father where he was? He promised not to. Whose argument does Henry use to win the first debate competition?
Who is my opponent he doesn’t exist?
James Farmer Jr.: Because, he decides who wins or loses, not my opponent. Henry Lowe: And who is your opponent? James Farmer Jr.: He doesn’t exist.
What is the quote from The Great Debaters?
Keep the body, take the mind. Henry Lowe: A brilliant young woman I know was asked once to support her argument in favor of social welfare. She named the most powerful source imaginable: the look in a mother’s face when she cannot feed her children.
What was Tolson doing with the farmers?
What was Tolson doing with the farmers? Trying to help them make a union.
What does it mean to be born without record?
What does it mean to be born without record? Negroes were not given birth certificates when they were born.
What does James fantasize about at the dance?
What does James daydream about at the dance? He is organizing a revolt with the sharecroppers for their rights.
How does the fight begin at the party the great debaters?
The fight escalates when James questions his father’s cowardice during the pig incident, leading Dr. Farmer to slap him. The debate season begins with Wiley College challenging another African-American school, Paul Quinn College.
Who wins the debate between Harvard and Wiley College?
A member of the 1936–39 team, Bellis also the source of the widespread rumor—now immortalized in Denzel Washington’s The Great Debaters— that Wiley College met and beat Harvard College, with Felix Frankfurter as one of the judges.
Who won the debate in The Great Debaters?
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.