Actor’s Contribution Helps Texas College Revive Debate Tradition
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Actor’s Contribution Helps Texas College Revive Debate Tradition
A $1 million contribution from actor Denzel Washington has revived the debate program at a predominantly black Texas college whose Depression-era debate team as the focus of Washington’s movie, “The Great Debaters.”
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(January 2, 2009)-- A $1 million contribution from actor Denzel Washington has revived the debate program at a predominantly black Texas college whose Depression-era debate team as the focus of Washington’s movie, “The Great Debaters.”

The film about the team that beat the national champions in 1935 brought renewed national attention to Wiley College in Marshall, which eventually got offers to debate teams from other schools.

But Wiley didn’t have a debate team

Washington’s contribution and donations from others changed that.

An 11-member team began debating this fall and eventually, the team's ranks are expected to grow to about 30.

"The movie generated a lot of enthusiasm and interest" in the Wiley debate team,” a school official said.

Wiley College Web Site
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