Not sure if this has been posted or if this is the right place... but I liked the article.


January 03, 2008

Participants remember B-CC's debate with Oxford
NewsJournalOnline
By LINDA TRIMBLE
Education Writer

DAYTONA BEACH -- A small, black Southern college takes on the debate team from a prestigious university in a David versus Goliath-type match.

That may sound like the story line from 'The Great Debaters,' a just-released film starring Denzel Washington, that will open Friday in Ormond Beach and Orange City.

But it's also the stuff of which legends were made at Bethune-Cookman College (now University), where two members of the debate team squared off in October 1951 against a touring team from England's Oxford University.

'Little ol' Bethune-Cookman did a lot of things,' said Cleo Higgins, a retired B-CC vice president who was the debate coach back in 1951 when students Andrew Steward and Olivia Scott took on the Brits.

'The Great Debaters,' on the other hand, is getting lots of publicity as a nominee for the Golden Globe for best drama. It tells the story of a debate team from all-black Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, and its 1935 triumphs over all its opponents, including the University of Southern California.

Television commercials promoting the film have been bringing back memories for the 84-year-old Higgins, who now lives in Jacksonville, and Carver Portlock, who was master of ceremonies for the debate as a B-CC freshman and now lives in Philadelphia.

They've been comparing notes over the phone for a couple of weeks now.

The debate took place in the college's White Hall. The topic was 'Any Attempt to Outlaw the Communist Party Endangers the Liberties Which it is Designed to Protect,' with Oxford taking the affirmative side and B-CC arguing against it.

Rest of arcticle...

Wow!!! The things you learn everyday. :-)

Wonderful stuff,simply wonderful!

Would LOVE to have or listen to a recording of this.