History
In the 1920s and 30s, nearly every one of the more than 100 HBCUs maintained a speech and debate team. The foundation of the Civil Rights movement can be traced to speech and debate competition at HBCUs throughout the country. Great Debater alumnus, James farmer, Jr. was one of the most important figures of the Civil Rights movement who remains largely unrecognized. James Farmer, Jr., because of a discussion with Melvin B. Tolson, vowed that he would stamp out racism and segregation. Because of this promise, Farmer was the organizer of the Freedom Rides, one of the primary architects of The March on Washington, the mastermind of Affirmative Action, and the founder of The Congress on Racial Equality (Voth, 2017). Farmer and the Civil Rights movement demonstrate the necessity for free speech as well as the power of speech and debate teams.
Unfortunately, in 2017, due to lack of funds, the number of HBCUs with speech and debate teams had dwindled to fewer than ten throughout the country.