Beginning tonight, The History Channel’s History in Focus will be examining the issues raised in the film:

Historical perspective and insight is given to new theatrical film The Great Debaters, a drama based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, (Denzel Washington), a professor at Texas’ Wiley College. In 1935, he inspired the school’s debate team to set their sights nationally and they went on to beat Harvard in the national championship. Because of the movie’s rich subject matter, our special will look at a number of the issues raised in the film including civil rights and the “Jim Crow” laws of the South and Black Colleges. The film also introduces us to James L. Farmer, Jr., one of the most important figures in civil rights. Mr. Farmer was one of the first “Freedom Riders” and actually coined the term. He was also a founding member of the Congress of Racial Equality.

On the eDebate mailing list, Harvard Debate alum Dr. Arthur Kyriazis has taken exception to the film’s depiction of Harvard as the team that Wiley College defeats. He says that historical records show that Wiley defeated USC to win the championship.