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The Great Debaters Essay

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The Great Debaters Essay
Esther Vander Ploeg Professor Shannon EN 100 22 September 2014
A review of The Great Debaters

The Great Debaters which is an award winning film starring Henry Lowe (Nate Parker), Samantha booke (Jurnee Smollett) Melvin B Tolson (Denzel Washington) James Farmer Jr. (Denzel Whitaker) is based on a true story of four brave courage’s “underdog debaters” and there remarkable coach from Wiley College (an all-black institution) In Marshall, Texas in the Jim crow of the south in the 1930’s. This film was not only to tell a story about the college’s triumphs, but the art of the debate was to teach us about the adversity and racial inequality. The film expresses great emotion from the debaters and the professor. This movie is well acted, soars with feeling, and deeply inspiring.
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During the movie the professor was arrested because he was setting up a small group outside of town top stop the inequality and segregation, several of the people who attended this meeting were lynched. This movie was meant to have meaning behind it and show emotion through the debates about the racial inequality. Each of the team members has powerful words that gives specific examples how lynching and segregation occurs, As Samantha booke states in one of her debates against a prejudice team ” As long as schools are segregated, Negroes will receive an education that is both, separate and unequal.” The power of that quote, should make a lot of people think about what segregation was like and how the education was unequal and unfair. Although this movie is about winning the debates it is meant to have endless emotions about segregation as Samantha relays in several of her

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