Wiley College Debate Team

1930

Henrietta Bell Wells was a member of the Wiley College debate team.

Wiley College was founded in Marshall, Texas, in 1873 by Methodist Episcopal Church Bishop Isaac Wiley. The first African American college in Texas, Wiley educated newly freed African Americans. Henry B. Pemberton was one of Wiley’s first and most prominent graduates in 1888.

In 1930, the Wiley College debate team became national champions after they defeated the University of Southern California. Henrietta Bell Wells made this scrapbook to document her experience on Wiley’s debate team.