There is a special air of pride and excitement surrounding the movie ‘The Great Debaters' a movie inspired by a true story. "The Great Debaters" chronicles the journey of Professor Melvin Tolson, a brilliant but volatile debate team coach who uses the power of words to shape a group of underdog students from Wiley College, a small black college in Marshall, Texas, in the deep south, into a historically elite debate team.
In 1935, Wiley's debate team defeated schools from elite black schools like Fisk and Howard, and then moved on to the unthinkable: debating and defeating students from white schools and eventually dethroning the reigning national debate champions, the University of Southern California, (not Harvard as depicted in the movie).
It's a highly inspirational movie that will hold a special place in the hearts of many movie goers for years to come. But for one special individual living in New Mexico the movie is a reminder of personal experiences with Wiley College and Mr. Melvin Tolson, the individual who is the movie's focus, and was her teacher, mentor and close friend.
For Mrs. Carnis Salisbury, a long time community activist in the State of New Mexico, reviewing the movie's real life depiction of historical accounts of activities at Wiley College in the mid 1930's, was an opportunity for her to step back in time.
Mrs. Salisbury celebrated her 94th birthday with her daughters, Patricia and Olivia, at the movie theater in the Cottonwood mall, feeling as if she had just stepped out of a time tunnel. "Watching the beginning of the movie was a very special personal experience for me, seeing the entrance into the school was as if I was seeing my school again as a young lady about to take a major step in my life," said Mrs. Salisbury.
In fact it would have been 76 years ago that Mrs. Salisbury would have been remembering, when she was a freshman at Wiley College in 1931. It was also in 1931 that Mrs. Salisbury would meet Melvin Tolson, who would be her freshman English teacher of whom she remembers very well. "I remembered Melvin as a brilliant man who was revered throughout the school. He was an excellent teacher but he was very brass in his delivery which intimidated me and left me a little afraid of him as his student," shared Mrs. Salisbury.
But it was also during that time, stated Mrs. Salisbury, that she developed a deep respect and admiration for Tolson, the man of whom she credits with putting Wiley College on the national map. Mrs. Salisbury graduated from Wiley College in 1934 just before Wiley College would develop the famous debate team depicted in the movie.
Mrs. Salisbury left Wiley College with degrees in education and social studies. As portrayed in the movie, the early years were turbulent times of racial prejudice for African Americans, and she had this to say about what her father, a Methodist minister wanted for his children. "During the time I was in school there were two professions widely open for African Americans, they were to work in the kitchen or teach. My father didn't want any of us to work in kitchens so all 7 children attended college, 6 of us went to Wiley College and 1 to Prairie View."
Approximately seven years would pass before Mrs. Salisbury and Melvin Tolson's paths would cross again. During the time that Mrs. Salisbury was training and instructing ministers in the implementation of youth programs for their Church Schools, as a member of the Methodist Church staff, she and Tolson would meet again when Tolson would join the staff as well.
It was during this period that Mrs. Salisbury would get to truly know the man Melvin Tolson, and they would establish a strong friendship. "Melvin became my mentor, counselor and a close friend during this time, and I really got to know the man behind the brilliance. I thought Denzel Washington was great in his presentation and he did a wonderful job in his portrayal of Melvin. But during the movie Denzel portrayed a nicely dressed man on the school campus but Melvin was never interested in how he dressed. In fact Melvin would not have even cared as to whether he had on matching shoes. Whenever you would see Melvin walking across campus his head would be down walking very briskly and he would be in deep thoughts. No one would ever stop or interrupt him because they knew that he was not one to engage in idle conversation," said Mrs. Salisbury.
Mrs. Salisbury and Melvin Tolson's contact was detached when the conferences for training the ministers ended, but she was left with wonderful lasting memories of her close friend. "I can't remember when I last saw him, but later I heard that he died and it was painful, (Tolson died after cancer surgery in Dallas, Texas in 1966 and is buried in Guthrie, OK.). Our families still have a bond, I know today that his son Melvin Jr., who lives in Washington DC is a close friend of my younger brother Edward Hightower."
Mrs. Salisbury was proud to share with us the names of two of accomplished students of Tolson's, that she felt were exemplary of the Wiley College motto that reads; Achieving Excellence Through Pride and Performance. She identified James Leonard Farmer Jr., a Black civil rights activist who was Director of CORE, and one of the "big four" leaders of the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, and James Wheaton, who was an American motion picture and television actor. But one of Tolson's outstanding students that she failed to mention, but we will not neglect the honor, is Mrs. Carnis Salisbury herself, a New Mexico living legend who is a longtime activist for justice and the civil rights of individuals in New Mexico.
Mrs. Salisbury plans to see the movie again just to take another leisurely stroll down memory lane and hold hands with the memories of a close friend.