Leadership in The Great Debaters

The Great Debaters The Great Debaters, directed by Denzel Washington, is an inspirational movie about a specific debate team overcoming racism in the segregated South. It is based off of the debate team of Wiley College, a small religious black school in East Texas, during the Great Depression in the 1930s. Under the guidance of their coach Melvin Tolson, the team kept prevailing week after week against every single opponent. They started competing with other black schools but eventually worked their way to triumph over prestigious white schools as well. Their most significant win was against the all-white Ivy League team, Harvard. With the team’s encouraging story, this movie not only inspired people to make a change, but also presented how even students can make the world of difference. Although their actions made a big difference in fighting for what they believe, the students expressing their opinions by how they would present themselves is what eventually won over the crowd in the final victory. The leadership theme portrays greatly all throughout the movie by using body language, noble examples of mentoring, and finally a student becomes a leader himself. In the movie, the students’ body language itself truly shows a form of leadership that is unexplainable. Throughout all of the debates, one could see their passion in their eyes. For example, during the first dispute against a white team Samantha debates that it is possible for blacks to get a degree at a white college. The main part of her debate that wins over the audience is how emotional she gets about the subject. It also shows her confidence and deep passion in what she believes. Another moment that someone steps up to the plate in a leadership role is when Farmer’s dad comes to the sheriff office to help bail Tolson out of jail. Earlier in the movie we see Farmer Senior let the pig farmers walk all over him. These cruel individuals make him pay for the pig he hit, but not only that they throw the