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      • Inspired by a true story, The Great Debaters chronicles the journey of Professor Melvin Tolson (Denzel Washington), 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.
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  2. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like What does Dr. Farmer implying when he says "When I was a child I spake as a child...but when I became a man I put away all childish things"?, What does Mr. Tolson do to capture the attention of his students as he enters the classroom?, What "revolution" does Tolson talk about on the first day of class? and more.

  3. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like what secret activity was Mr.Tolson involved in that caused such problems outside of school?, What was the real college debate national champions that Wiley defeated? Why would they change this for the movie?, What was the film trying to show us through the secret union meeting in the barn early in the film? Consider the people in ...

  4. In an age in which 50 Cent is a role model and Snoop Dogg has a “family” reality show, The Great Debaters doles out idealism. It shamelessly glamorizes education, perseverance and the beauty of the human intellect, and it reminds us that the path to equality and justice doesn’t run through MTV.

    • Denzel Washington
    • I. Writers
    • II. Historically Black Colleges and Universities
    • III. Communism and African American Artists and Writers

    Objectives:

    1. Students will be able to cite evidence from a source to determine an author's purpose, intended audience, and major themes. 2. Students will be able to develop criteria for judging the literary quality of a particular written work. 3. Students will be able to prepare oral arguments using relevant evidence to defend a point of view. The Great Debaters recounts the true story of the debate team at the historically black Wiley College in Texas in the 1930s. The team's faculty advisor, Melvin...

    Questions for Discussion:

    1. After reading about several of the poets mentioned above, write an essay using their biographies to posit a theory as to why some of these poets, such as Langston Hughes, achieved fame and others are largely unknown today. Discuss whether the quality of their work was the deciding factor or whether other aspects of their lives affected their poetic legacy. 2. After reading the work of the poets above, discuss how their literary work was informed by the historic events of 1930s and 1940s. 3...

    Additional Material

    1. Against the Odds: The Artists of the Harlem Renaissance. Amber Edwards, director. PBS, 1993. 2. Ferguson, Jeffrey Brown. The Harlem Renaissance: A Brief History with Documents (The Bedford Series in History and Culture) New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007. 3. Sherman, Tony. "The Great Debaters," American Legacy (1997), http://www.americanlegacymag.com/debaters.pdf. 4. Ward, Jerry W., Jr., ed. Trouble the Water: 250 Years of African-American Poetry New York: Signet, 1997.

    Objectives:

    1. Students will be able to create relevant visual social studies materials (e.g., maps, political cartoons, charts, Web pages) to support an argument made in an essay or oral report. 2. Students will create multipurpose visuals to present information. 3. Students will be able to devise a plan to resolve a contemporary issue and develop a proposal for implementation. 4. Students will portray the attitudes reflected in a historical period using a variety of writing formats (eulogy, editorial,...

    Activities:

    1. Create a map showing the Mason-Dixon Line and the locations and founding years of the historically black colleges and universities mentioned above. Then, using the evidence gleaned from the AASCand from your research, develop and discuss a theory as to why these colleges were founded in their particular times and places. Be sure to address the issue of why the ostensibly sympathetic North hosted so few black colleges. 2. In contemporary educational circles, there is much discussion about t...

    Questions for Discussion:

    1. What is the significance of the founding philosophies of Tuskegee University and Howard University in the way these institutions grew and developed over time? 2. Some people might argue that single-gender colleges perpetuate a different but equally pernicious form of segregation. Form a debate team to support or refute this statement using evidence from the articles cited above. 3. Based on your readings above, analyze how a fictional student like Henry Lowe in The Great Debatersmight view...

    Objectives:

    1. Students will be able to research a historic issue using relevant political, economic, cultural and historical evidence. 2. Students will be able to develop criteria to evaluate alternative viewpoints on a contemporary issue. 3. Students will be able to prepare oral arguments using relevant evidence to defend a point of view. As stated above, the faculty advisor of the debate team, Melvin B. Tolson, is depicted in the film as a professor, a labor union activist, and a Communist; his activi...

    Activities:

    1. Form a debate team to debate the following issue: Communism supports a civil rights agenda more so than does a capitalistic democracy. 2. Research the political, economic, and cultural consequences for Americans associating with Communists from the 1930s through the 1950s, especially taking into account the treatment of African Americans like Ralph Ellison and Paul Robeson. How and why did their treatment change over time?

    Questions for Discussion:

    1. How did the union activities of Melvin Tolson at Wiley College reflect and augment his commitment to civil rights? 2. Discuss how a poet like Tolson or novelists like Ralph Ellison and Richard Wright might advance civil rights through their art. 3. Discuss the significance of the social climate in the 1920s and 1930s on writers living in Harlem versus that of writers living on the campuses of historically black colleges and universities throughout the nation.

  5. Jan. 3, 2008. The Great Debaters Directed by Denzel Washington (U.S.) Its steadfast humanity, its literacy, its passionate belief in education, its faith that history teaches invaluable lessons ...

  6. From a general summary to chapter summaries to explanations of famous quotes, the SparkNotes The Great Gatsby Study Guide has everything you need to ace quizzes, tests, and essays.

  7. Chapter 1. In the summer of 1922, Nick Carraway moves to West Egg, a lavish area in Long Island, home of the so-called “new rich.” After an awkward dinner with his cousin Daisy, her husband Tom, and their friend Jordan Baker, Tom and Daisy hint that Nick should pursue Jordan romantically.

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