Nearly 100 high school students participating in the 22nd annual Spartan Debate Institute screened the film “Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North” this week as part of Project 60/50.
Project 60/50 marks the 60th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education and the 50th anniversary of the passage and signing into law of the Civil Rights Act.
The documentary film, directed by Katrina Browne, Alla Kovgan and Jude Ray, details a family’s journey to uncover their ancestors’ relationship to the Middle Passage. The family retraces the Triangle Trade and gains powerful new perspectives on the black/white divide.
After the screening, Bill Batterman, associate director of debate at Woodward Academy; Chris Randall, a debate team member from Rutgers University; Ryan Galloway, director of debate at Samford University; and Ed Lee, head debate coach at Emory University, moderated a discussion with the students.
MSU Debate is housed in the Honors College.