When African American poet Mel Tolson (Denzel Washington, who also directs) creates a debate team at historically black Wiley College in the 1930s, he pushes the team to a level of excellence that allows them to take on Harvard University. But despite public success, personal clashes foment as the father (Forest Whitaker) of one of Tolson's students (Denzel Whitaker) begins to resent his son's loyalty to his coach.



Rated PG-13 2 hours 4 minutes 2007

5 stars! Very powerful, Young Denzel Whitaker did an amazing job! His speech at the end made us cry and gave us chicken skin for days!!

From Wikipedia: The film depicts the Wiley Debate team beating Harvard College in the 1930s. This meeting actually never occurred. The debate most likely similar to the one depicted by the movie was 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 matchup. According to Robert Eisele: "In that era, there was much at stake when a black 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; blacks were not admitted until after World War II.