Inspired by the remarkable story of Wiley College’s winning debate team of the early 1930s. Set against the backdrop of the Jim Crow South, THE GREAT DEBATERS chronicles the journey of the Wiley College debate team—coached by the brilliant and passionate professor Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington). It was Tolson’s recognition that the power of knowledge is the greatest advantage of all, which brought these students from underdogs to victors in a time when more than the odds were against them. (Source)
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Inspired by a true story, “The Great Debaters” chronicles the journey of Professor Melvin Tolson, a brilliant but volatile debate team coach who uses the power of words to shape a group of underdog students from a small African American college in the deep south into a historically elite debate team. A controversial figure, Professor Tolson challenged the social mores of the time and was under constant fire for his unconventional and ferocious teaching methods as well as his radical political views. (