Black Debate Team Analysis

A black debate team competes with white schools during civil unrest in America. It is the

mid-1930s and Professor Tolson assembles a black debate team at Wiley College. He trains

them with the goal that they compete with white debate teams across the country to prove that

they are good and better than whites. The team members are Samantha, James (the youngest

member and the son of another Wiley professor), Henry, and Hamilton. As the team

competes across the country, they experience first-hand the injustice and terror of racism.

They witness a lynch mob murder a black man and are deeply bothered by the incident. Prof.

Tolson, who secretly engages in political activity deemed illegal in those days, also faces

adversity. Despite of such
incidents, the team fares reaches to the point where the team is

asked to compete against the leading team in the country, Harvard University. At the debate,

James, initially a researcher, is given the chance to debate with Samantha, eventually winning

the contest. The team then continuously won for the next ten years.