This was a wonderful film! I’m so glad AMS Pictures produced this documentary on my grandfather Melvin B Tolson and included my uncles in the film to expound upon my grandfather and his teachings. I head up the Melvin B. Tolson Foundation www.themelvinbtolsonfoundation.org and I hope to partner with AMS pictures in the future. This is a wonderful film about the struggle of Afro-Americans and education in America and those social change agents and teachers who guided us through the Jim Crow era, Civil Rights movement and the post Martin Luther King era into the 21st century and the change movement by Barack Obama. I encourage all to buy this DVD, it is a must have in your collections.

– Kenneth S. Tolson

This documentary was even more powerful than the film. It gives the story of the real debaters from which the film was inspired. The historical archival film of Historical Black Colleges is truly priceless. This is a must have for anybody remotely interested in black history.

– Music Sanger

I love this movie. It is so inspiring and when I first watched it, I cried though half of the movie…..Good job!

– Benjamea Murray

My class has just finished watching The [Real] Great Debaters movie. I thought it was great. When we watched it, I did not realize at the time that the movie was based on a true story until I had to do a report on it. I learned about Professor Tolson and the original debaters. I though the whole story was great. It almost mad me feel bad for being white. The story was so strong.

– Alex C.

The recent presidential debates have drawn attention to how important debate is to our civil society. The Real Great Debaters is a great film that explains how debate became a transformative tool for allowing young people to overcome bigotry and racism in the course of realizing their individual dreams of excellence. -

– Ben Voth
Director of Forensics, Southern Methodist University

I really enjoyed the film and the opportunity to meet the production team at the New York screening of The Real Great Debaters of Wiley College.  I look forward to enjoying more of your works in the future.

– Zoe Jasper
Attorney, Satterlee Stephens Burke & Burke LLP

My 16 year-old daughter and I were overwhelmed by the documentary. I’m so glad we attended the premiere…we’ve seen the commercial version of the film, so actually having the opportunity to see footage from the original story was compelling.

–Felicia Hopson
Southern Methodist University

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Thank you for sending us your comments, and please keep it coming!

My name is Laura and I was one of the producers on The Real Great Debaters of Wiley College. One of my main tasks on the film was to find a lot of the archival material that appears on screen. Fortunately, the families of Hobart Jarrett, Hamilton Boswell, and Melvin B. Tolson were able to provide lots of wonderful personal photographs, which they generously let us use in the film.  But sometimes finding exactly the right image can be a challenge–requiring lots of web research and calling archive collections at universities, historical societies, etc. But, when you find what you’re looking for, it’s quite satisfying. I love looking at the old photos and film reels.

As a result of finding out more about James Farmer from this film, we are embarking on a new documentary about him. I had the pleasure of going to Washington DC and Virginia, and looking for archival materials at the Library of Congress and the National Archives. What a great experience. At the University of Mary Washington has a wonderful collection of photos of James Farmer, available online, and the Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin has many of his papers. It’s going to be great fun getting to delve deeper into the story of one of the Great Debaters.