The Great Debaters

Year of Production: 2007

Genre: Biopic / Drama

Cast: 2-Times Academy Award Winner DENZEL WASHINGTON (The Book of Eli, American Gangster); Academy Award Winner FOREST WHITAKER(The Last King Of Scotland); JURNEE SMOLLET(Eve’s Bayou); DENZEL WHITAKER(Training Day);  JERMANIE WILLIAMS(The Family Tree)

Director: DENZEL WASHINGTON

Festivals & Awards: BET-Winner Best Actor (D. Washington), CHRISTOPHER A. Winner Best Feature F./Golden Globe Nominee Golden Trailer / Image Awards Winner Outstanding Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor / PGA AWARDS Winner Stanley Kramer Award, etc 

Synopsis: Marshall, Texas, described by James Farmer, Jr. as “the last city to surrender after the Civil War,” is home to Wiley College, where in 1936, Professor Melvin Tolson (two-time Oscar winner DENZEL WASHINGTON) coaches the debate team to a nearly-undefeated season that sees the first debate in the U.S. between white and Negro students, ending with an invitation to face Harvard University’s national champions. The team of four, which includes a female student and a very young James Farmer, is tested in a crucible heated by Jim Crow, sexism, a lynch mob, an arrest and near riot, a love affair, jealousy, and a national radio audience.