Denzel Washington, director and star of the Golden Globe-nominated The Great Debaters, is donating $1 million to Wiley College to re-establish the debate team portrayed in the film.
Washington plays educator and poet Melvin Tolson, who mentored the all-black college's elite debate squad in the 1930s. During an appearance in Marshall, Tex., last week, Washington, 52, said he would like to see the team brought back.
–Karen Salkin
Denzel Washington Gives $1 Million for Debate Team
Evens Lamour/Landov
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