The Wiley College Debate Team is one of the best-known debate teams in America. In 1997 Tony Scherman wrote an article for American Legacy. This article brought a lot of new attention to the debate team. This article became so popular that a documentary was made in 2005 by AMS Pictures. But arguably most of the popularity came from the 2007 film produced by Oprah Winfrey, The Great Debaters. This film was a huge hit with almost everyone, it was a very informative video about everything the African American race had to go through in the South. This film not only educated American adults but also younger generations, younger generations don't usually watch documentaries, so this film opened the eyes of many. In this film Denzel Washington plays Melvin B. Tolson and Denzel Whitaker plays James L. Farmer, Jr., the 14-year-old child prodigy. Jurnee Smollett-Bell, who played Samantha Booke, is slightly based on Henrietta Bell Wells. The other two debaters are fictional and there were no women on the team in 1935 when they competed against the University of Southern California, not Harvard University. The real names of the other two people who were part of the debate team are Hobart Jarrett and Henry Heights. In reality, the team moved west, not north, to debate all-white colleges. The Great Debaters is set at Marshal Texas and, more importantly, Wiley College. Wiley College is an all-black college. This college became very popular when Melvin B. Tolson auditioned for the debate team and out of 72 people only four were selected. These people were very different from each other personality-wise, which created great synergy for the debate team. Throughout the film a…half of paper…that this was a great movie and showed all the difficult things that African Americans had to go through. This movie had everything from racism, to beatings, and even lynching. This film really shows the difficult times for black and white communities due to racism and the great depression. I think it's very courageous what Melvin B. Tolson was doing. Not only was he leading a debate team against all-white colleges for the first time, he was also leading a union for blacks and whites. The things that African Americans had to go through in the South are truly heartbreaking and this film does exactly what it said and shows what people had to go through. One of the main things this movie focuses on is being passionate and always trying to achieve your goal without stopping. This is a very important lesson that all people should know.