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The Truth: In the early and mid-twentieth century, the debate team at Wiley College was extremely successful. Led by Melvin B. Tolson, the team consisted two main debaters and one “anchor man” who memorized both the affirmative and negative arguments for each topic. At one point in the debate team’s history, 14 year old James Farmer Jr. played this role. He was already an experienced public speaker when he enrolled in Wiley College, after winning scholarships based on oratorical contests, despite his young age. He contributed to the success of Wiley College’s debate team and later went on to co-found the Congress of Racial Equality, an organization that worked to challenge racists. Another member of the debate team at one point was a woman …show more content…
For example, the character Samantha Booke is based off of Henrietta Bell Wells, while Melvin Tolson and James Farmer Jr. were both real people with the same name. One discrepancy between the real life event and the movie is the Harvard debate. In the movie, the climax occurs when Wiley College debates Harvard University, something Tolson has been trying to schedule throughout the entire movie. Wiley College struggles against Harvard but eventually wins the debate. Most people familiar with the debate team’s history claim that this debate never even occurred, and even Tolson’s son has said “If Dad’s team had debated Harvard, I would know it”. The real life inspiration of this debate seems to be when Wiley College debated the University of Southern California and were victorious. There is another scene in the movie when the team is on their way to a debate and comes to a mob that is blocking the road. The team sees a colored man being lynched and immediately turns around, but the mob follows the car. The team eventually gets away but are visibly shaken and ride in silence for the rest of the way. This event appears to have actually taken place when the team was on their way to Memphis. In the real life version, though, Tolson is driving and instructs a mulatto that was on the team take the wheel when he sees the mob. The rest of the team is darker colored so they duck down and hide. The mulatto salutes the mobsters and the team successfully gets away from the
The movie Bernie is true story of a murder committed in Carthage, Texas in 1996. What set this crime apart from other murders was the reaction of the citizens. Bernie Tiede shot and killed Marjorie Nugent in November 1996. The people of Carthage were more worried about Bernie’s fate than his act of murdering Marjorie.
In the Film “Fight Club” the setting was set during the postmodern period. When the term postmodern is mentioned it is a bit of a contradiction. Modern means the here and now, the present. While post means subsequent to or after. It is the same as saying after the present. That is the contradiction! No one knows what is after the present. Maybe postmodernism means before it’s time. Many argue that this movie was before its time, some even believe that people would begin to mimic this behavior. Although no one has a clear on the definition of postmodernism there are many terms that correlate to postmodernism. In the film “Fight Club” there are words that resemble the postmodernism ideation such as consumerism, nihilism, and liberation.
The entire film is based on significantly different racial opinions, opinions of different writing styles and stereotyping of different people in general. Race is a huge issue in the film and many stereotypes are made.
Contrary to a common modern misconception, Lincoln did not believe that Negroes were equal to white men in regards to intellect or morals. In his fourth debate in Charleston, Illinois, he is direct...
In today 's society, movies are viewed as a way of relaxation. Movie lovers enjoy seeing scenes in movies based on real life events. Some of these scenes may include high rates of violence that can cause destruction and serious chaos if implemented in real life. What comes to people 's mind when they hear the word "purge"? The purge is fiction movie directed by James deMonaco which retracts events that would totally cause some controversy within a society. As the theme of the movie suggests, that is the time of the year that all the insane and illegal actions come to be legal for twelve-four hour period. Several atrocities were committed. There was a group of tourists that came to the US in order to commit
In “The Choice” by Barack Obama in 2012, the scenes are mostly shot in the living room. There are couches, flowers, and shelves which are full of books and framed pictures. Obama is sitting on a chair and talking to the camera about the choice that the voters have and need to make. He probably chooses this setting with a homey feeling because he wants middle-class viewers to feel like he is one of them, explaining to them as if he is going to each house and talking one-on-one. While he is talking, the camera is clearly focused on his face. The lens takes the close-up on Obama 's face while all the images and background behind are blurred. This technique is called “shallow focus.” It is intended to direct the viewer’s focus to one element of a scene. Obama is
The movie , “The Great Debaters”, was produced by Oprah Winfrey and directed by Denzel Washington, the movie was written based on a true story, the movie revolving around the efforts of a debate coach and his team to be recognized among white debating teams, such as Harvard University. In a time, when the Jim Crow laws were common in the South and lynching mobs were around, the debate team coach Melvin B. Tolson, helped raise his debate team of young black students to the top.
Dr. Marc Lamont Hill is a CNN Political Contributor and speaker. Dr. Lamont Hill’s speech, which took place in the Sheldon Ballroom at SUNY Oswego, was part of “I am Oz, Diversity Speaker Series Events”, a program to help inform college students about social justice and racial unrest within our nation and around the world. The majority of students who attended this event was made up of African-Americans, with less than ten white students. There were also a few professors and residential life advisors there, who were also mostly African-American. This was due in part by the matter of the speech, which did not include a title, but was focused on the black lives in America.
Distinguished guests, parents, members of the faculty a pleasant evening to you all. As you may know, I am Dr. Melbourne the President of the Wiley College. This evening I am indeed honored to be hosting this Awards Dinner for the Wiley College debaters. As we all know, our debaters namely Henry Lowe who served as the captain, he helped his teammates to believe in themselves in times of doubt. James Farmer, Jr. 14-year-old prodigy who is well acclimated in the field of research. And last but not least Samantha Booke the first female to join the Wiley College debate team. Along with professor Tolson who has been their source of strength and voice reason.
When we being the Washington Technology Debate Team four years ago the goal was to create a program to help to foster an environment in which all students can build early and honest relationships across the color line in the debate space. I took great pride in not just being a follower that was content with helping in missions to help beaked down the institutional racism and races rhetoric that justified racism as a necessary for the common good. I wanted to challenge the idea that talking about race – even just acknowledging race – was unacceptable, so we can create a debate space in which was open to all kinds of people
3. Throughout the movie, it was apparent that Dr. Francis and Dr. Gallo, displayed the same objective of wanting to discover the cause of AIDS; however, in terms of critical thinking, it’s obvious that they utilize different styles of critical thinking. To further explain, in one segment of the movie, Francis compares and correlates already known viruses that cause cancer, damage t-cells, and exhibit the same symptoms with what he thinks might be the cause of AIDS. However, Francis is comparing his fields of expertise in which he already knows and thinks might be true, not with what has been scientifically proven; therefore, he is using wishful thinking, a speed bump of critical thinking. There are also times in the movie, where Francis thinks
Fight Club is the film adaptation of the novel written by Chuck Palahniuk. This film portrays the life of a thirty year old insomniac, office worker and the alter ego he creates to escape the struggles of everyday life. Themes of isolation, masculinity and consumer culture are all present throughout the film, making the main character a very relatable figure for those emerged in the “average joe” life.
The movie I decided to analyze for this course was American History X (1998), which stars Edward Norton. Though this movie isn’t widely known, it is one of the more interesting movies I have seen. It’s probably one of the best films that depict the Neo Nazi plague on American culture. The film takes place from the mid to late 1990’s during the Internet boom, and touches on subjects from affirmative action to Rodney King. One of the highlights of this movie that really relates to one of the key aspects of this course is the deterrence of capital punishment. Edward Norton’s portrayal as the grief stricken older brother who turns to racist ideologies and violence to cope with his fathers death, completely disregards the consequences of his actions as he brutally murders someone in front of his family for trying to steal his car. The unstable mentality that he developed after his father’s death really goes hand-to-hand specifically with Isaac Ehrlich’s study of capital punishment and deterrence. Although this movie is entirely fictional, a lot of the central themes (racism, crime punishment, gang pervasiveness, and one’s own vulnerability) are accurate representations of the very problems that essentially afflict us as a society.
Before the civil rights movement could begin, a few courageous individuals had to guide the way. Dr. Vernon Johns was one of those individuals. Dr. Vernon Johns was a pastor and civil rights activist in the 1920s. Johns became the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama in the late 1940s. During his time as a pastor, Johns preached many sermons on how African American people were being treated not only in the community but in society. Johns on multiple occasions upset his community through his ideas on social change. Through a sociologist perspective, many sociological concepts were displayed in The Vernon Johns Story. Some of those concepts included: ascribed status, conflict theory, deviant behavior, alienation, and
The history of the slave era has been consistent throughout the past years whether it is told through textbooks or documentaries. Slavery through history is remembered as an era in which thousands of individuals were robbed from their freedom and treated with mass cruelty. History generally goes into depth on what slavery was and why it lasted for over two centuries, and the reason being is that African Americans were viewed as extremely profitable property, not as actual living human beings, “the sense of the humanity of these people were simply suppressed for the sake of gold” (“Africans in America” 1998). Another point to mention is the fact that history focuses on the overall picture of slavery and what it was, not necessarily what impact it had on African Americans and the individual hardships they endured.