Denzel Washington Gives $1 Million for Debate Team

Thursday December 20, 2007 01:20 PM EST

Evens Lamour/Landov

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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