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The Great Debaters

829 Words4 Pages

The Great Debaters resembles the true story of four debaters (Samantha Brooke, Henry Lowe, Hamilton Burgess & James Farmer) of Wylie College lead by the visionary professor Tolson. Different historical issues such as the Jim Crow laws in the south, federal assistance, racial segregation, and even communism are debated during the movie. The movie depicts development from amateur apprentices to word debaters in an era of hate and fear in the United States as well as other nations on the globe.
The Wylie College begins the season challenging Paul Quinn College; the latter argues the need to end welfare when the Depression is over and the former argues the negative. During the 1930s the United States experienced one of the worst economic failures …show more content…

This meant a new obstacle to the Debaters which never before had debated a white college. At a time when the Soviet Union was young, communism represented a menace for the United States. Professor Tolson is the clandestine organizer of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union. Unions were considered a treat in the South because they represented the basic ideals of communism. This issue raises tensions within the team causing Hamilton Burgess to quit the debate team. Burgess renounce which gave Samantha Brooke the opportunity to debate against Oklahoma City University. She was a dedicated debater who spoke from the heart; the first woman in the debate team. The resolution is that “negroes should be admitted to state universities”, Wylie College argues the affirmative. Through the debate Oklahoma debaters frequently remarked how integration was a waste of time using Web DuBois quotes as a proof to deliver ethos. They kept arguing that integration would only cause more problems for African-Americans. They also recognized the White South prejudices and its desperation to keep the status quo in the region. Samantha responded delivering logos in her argument about how the state spent five times more for white schools than black schools. Such unequal spending resulted in poor education for the black minority. Almost breaking in tears, she enticed the audience through pathos. She highlighted the need to take action in providing equal education when she said: When is that day gonna come. . .is it gonna come next week? is it gonna come in a year? . . . the time for freedom, the time for justice is always. . .right now. the time for freedom, and the time for equality is always, is always right

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