The Great Debaters

Taking place in the 1930’s, The Great Debaters is a true story that revolves around an African-American debate coach, Melvin B. Tolson, who strives for his debate team of four kids, to be equal to the whites. During the time period, segregation and the Jim Crow laws were still in effect, making life for blacks difficult. This movie shows us how public speaking and communication were important, especially during debates. There were two boys on the debate team, Henry Lowe and Hamilton Burgess who were both intelligent and superb public speakers and debaters. Then we met two other members, young James Farmer Jr. and the lovely Samantha Brooke, who were both nervous and intimidated to speak in the beginning. This showed me that not everyone is comfortable speaking publically, but with practice, you can get better and improve at it. …show more content…
We saw how they practiced for hours, and how Tolson showed them how to have a strong and powerful voice; which is important in public speaking and communication. One example I noticed was when they were in the woods. Tolson was in a canoe and kept receding from them. He repeatedly asked them “who's the judge” and they would reply “the judge is God”, and so on. He taught them how to speak up, and make sure they were heard. I believe the reason he had them practice these lines is so they could perfect their voice and become better communicators. They also used these lines towards the end of the movie, when they were writing their argument for the Harvard debate. It gave them motivation, and helped them believe they could