The Great Debaters is a 2007 film directed by and starring Denzel Washington and produced by Harpo Productions (Oprah Winfrey’s company). It was inspired by an article written about the Wiley College debat team by Tony Scherman for the 1997 Spring issue of the magazine, American Legacy.

The film, based on a true story, revolves around the efforts of debate coach Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington), at historically black Wiley College, to place his team on equal footing with whites in the American South during the 1930s, when Jim Crow laws were common and lynch mobs were pervasive. In the movie, the Wiley team eventually succeeds to the point where they are able to debate Harvard University and win. This debate actually never occurred. The debate most likely similar to the one depicted by the movie was the match up between Wiley and The University of Southern California, who at the time were the reigning debating champions. Wiley College did indeed win this matchup. According to the screen writer, Robert Eisele: "In that era, there was much at stake when a black college debated any white school, particularly one with the stature of Harvard. We used Harvard to demonstrate the heights they achieved."
The film omits another reality: even though they beat the reigning champions, the Great Debaters were not allowed to call themselves victors because they were not truly considered to belong to the debate society; blacks were not admitted until after World War II.

The movie also explores the social milieu of Texas during the Great Depression including not only the day-to-day insults and slights African Americans endured, but also a lynching. Also depicted is James L. Farmer Jr. who, at 14-years of age, was on Wiley's debate team after completing high school (and who later went on to co-found C.O.R.E., the Congress of Racial Equality). According to the Houston Chronicle, another character depicted on the team, Samantha Booke, is based on the real individual Henrietta Bell Wells, "the only female member of the 1930 debate team from Wiley College who participated in the first collegiate interracial debate in the United States." Melvin B. Tolson also happens to be a major African American poet whose papers are housed at the Library of Congress.

-Article submitted by staff writer, Angela Holley

(To read the Spring 1997 article that was written about the Wiley College debate team click on the link below and look for The Great Debaters logo towards the bottom of the page.)

The chilly month of February is redeemed by experiencing the warmth, red color, music and sweetness of the heart. These are the times we want to give our heart and receive heart from others. We want to give the BESTof our heart and to that end, HAVE the best heart possible. I am here to suggest possibilities of the BEST OF YOUR HEART.
You can nurture your heart and your life by reducing stress. Stress is the main cause of chronic disease. No, you don’t even have to change your job or your life style. Most people don’t even know that they are in a stress mode the majority of the time. To test if you are tensed up, focus on your shoulders, back, chest and abdominal muscles, one area at a time, and see if you can relax them. If they have been tensed, you have been in some stage of the fight or flight mode. You can change your whole physiology from fight, flight or freeze to rest, digest, heal in a matter of minutes. You WANT the rest, digest, heal mode most of the time to get your heart calmed down, your digestive system functioning, your brain clear, and your immune system enhanced.
It’s all in the breath and it’s called deep belly breathing. It’s done by expanding your diaphragm downward so that your belly expands, not your chest. It also helps to focus on dropping your shoulder blades. When you become aware that you are tense, it’s time for 5 to 10 deep belly breathes allowing you to relax your muscles and set in motion the Rest, Digest, Heal physiology. Support your heart in this way so that it can support you.
Advanced technology is finally able to detect and measure what indigenous people have known for thousands of years. We have a bio-energy/magnetic body that permeates and extends out from our solid material body. Dr. Harold S. Burr at Yale University has mapped an energetic/magnetic field, the shape of an adult salamander, surrounding salamander embryos. The implications are that we have an energetic template that guides the growth and organization of our bodies.
The functions of the energetic/magnetic body are many and must be taken into account when we attend to our emotional, mental and physical health. We take care of the energetic body as an integral part of our physical body by practicing the ancient arts of yoga and qi gong. People who practice these arts are energizing, balancing and regulating their bodies. Studies show they are healthier and live longer.

There are three parts to performing these arts: 1. Proper Breath, 2. Intention, and 3. Movement. Take three big belly breathes. As you are breathing in, catch red divine energy (Chi) from the air with your hands and as you exhale, pull the red chi into your heart. Your heart thanks you.

(Submitted by Elaine Bennett, M.S., Apprentice Healing Touch Practitioner and student of Qi Gong. For an appointment in the Nashville, TN area call: 931-451-1270)

Click here for information about Medical Qi Gong

In 2002, just months after the Taliban had been driven out of Afghanistan, Rodriguez, a hairdresser from Holland, MI, joined a small nongovernmental aid organization on a mission to the war-torn nation. That visit changed her life. In Kabul, she chronicles her efforts to help establish the country's first modern beauty school and training salon; along with music and kite-flying, hairdressing had been banned under the previous regime. This memoir offers a glimpse into a world Westerners seldom see–life behind the veil.

Rodriguez was entranced with the delightful personalities that emerged when her students removed their burqas behind closed doors, but her book is also a tale of empowerment–both for her and the women. In a city with no mail service, she went door-to-door to recruit students from clandestine beauty shops, and there were constant efforts to shut her down. She had to convince Afghan men to work side by side with her to unpack cartons of supplies donated from the U.S. The students, however, are the heroines of this memoir. Women denied education and seldom allowed to leave their homes found they were able to support themselves and their families. Rodriguez's experiences will delight readers as she recounts such tales as two friends acting as parents and negotiating a dowry for her marriage to an Afghan man or her students puzzling over a donation of a carton of thongs. Most of all, they will share her admiration for Afghan women's survival and triumph in chaotic times.

Kabul Beauty School website