India, Oct. 24 -- Have you ever been kept out of something just because of who you are? For the debaters of Wiley College in the 1930s, that was real life. Texas House Resolution 1609 tells that story and honors the school's debate team. A movie, a $1 million gift, and a group of young students helped open a closed door to a national title.

Wiley College was founded in 1873 in Marshall, Texas, by the Freedmen's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Wiley is a historically Black college. Melvin B. Tolson came to the school in 1924 and built its debate team. His team was not allowed to join Pi Kappa Delta, a national forensics fraternity. But his debaters didn't stop. They continued to compete and prove themselves.

In 1935, Wiley...