The Great Debaters: The Wiley College Debate Team Essay -- Film, Movie

IntroductionConflict is inevit fit in any personal family or among members of any group. While we encounter many types of conflict in our lifetime, we often look for ways to avoid conflict. So, why do we run onward from dealing with our conflict? It is often because many of us fear the conflict will escalate into a situation we will not be able to sustain. As conflicts escalate, they go through certain incremental transformations. Although these transformations occur separately on each side, they affect the conflict as a whole because they ar usually mirrored by the other side. As a result of these transformations, the conflict is intensified in ways that are sometimes exceedingly knotty to undo (Pruitt, and Kim 89). We see many of these intense moments of escalating conflict throughout the story of The Great Debaters. The Great Debaters is based on a true story of trio African-American students faced with the escalating conflict of racism in the 1930s, with their Engli sh College Professor, Melvin B. Tolson bringing them together to create the first African-American debate team.An outspoken Wiley College professor who boldly challenged the discriminatory Jim Crow laws of the 1930s, Tolsons recognizes that his young debate students possess the spark of a new generation. Convinced that they could invoke great change if effrontery the confidence and tools involve to do so, the tireless educator implores his students to take responsibility for the future while furtively attempting to protect them from his clandestine role as an organizer for the Southern renter Farmers Union. Chief among Tolsons promising young students is a 14-year-old prodigy named James Farmer, Jr. Farmers father, James Sr., is a renown... ...y successful in eliminating the escalating conflict they were faced with they were also given an opportunity to address the racism and oppression they had experienced over the years. Works CitedBuchanan, Jason. The Great Debaters Plot & Synopsis. Rev. of The Great Debaters. Moviefone. AOL Inc., 13 May 2008. Web. 11 July 2010. .Pruitt, Dean G, and strain Hee Kim. Social Conflict Escalation, Stalemate, and Settlement. 3rd ed. 2004. New York McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2004. Print.The Great Debaters - Negroes should be admitted to the same college as whites. Denzel Washington. MGM, 2007. YouTube. Web. 11 July 2010. . Watkins, Karen. When Co-Workers Clash. Training and Development Journal, 2003 26-27. Web. 11 July 2010.