What Were the Norfolk Prison Debates?
In 1951, Coleman Bender was hired as a professor of speech at Emerson College. Having discovered a love of debate as an undergraduate at Pennsylvania University, he took on the role of debate team coach. Under the guidance of Bender and his fellow professor Haig der Marderosian ’54, MS ’55, the Emerson debate team quickly became one of the best in the country. The team, founded in 1948, maintained its status as a fierce competitor for decades.
Soon after arriving at Emerson, Bender was approached by staff at Norfolk Prison about coaching its debate team, which was inactive at the time. The prison opened in 1931 under the leadership of superintendent Howard B. Gill, who sought to rehabilitate, reform, and educate inmates rather than simply incarcerate them. One innovation that the prison initiated in the early 1930s was a debate team to help inmates develop their critical thinking and oratory skills. Malcolm X was on the team during the late 1940s and credited his significant public speaking and debating skills to his participation in it.
Bender accepted the invitation and he and der Marderosian rebuilt the Norfolk Prison debate team. The two professors worked tirelessly with the team to choose topics, develop pro and con arguments, and improve the participants’ analytical and public speaking skills. Since the team members could not leave the prison, they invited noteworthy teams from such schools as Harvard, MIT, and Emerson to visit them for competitions. The result was a stunning record of 268 wins to 6 losses over a 23-year period and constant inquiries from other teams about participating in new competitions.
The collaboration with Norfolk Prison ended in the late 1970s, but the College created a new partnership with prisons in 2017 called the Emerson Prison Initiative (EPI). This endeavor focuses on offering educational courses to inmates in Massachusetts prisons that are similar to those offered on Emerson’s Boston campus.
Please join the Iwasaki Library, Emerson Prison Initiative, and Emerson Speech & Debate for the opening of a new exhibit at the Iwasaki Library titled Disrupting Mass Incarceration: Six Decades of Emerson Prison Education on Thursday, November 21, 5:30–7:00 pm. There will be an ice cream reception and a demonstration by Emerson’s current debate team, as well as remarks from EPI Director Mneesha Gellman, Assistant Professor Cara Moyer-Duncan, and Assistant Professor and Debate Team Advisor Deion Hawkins.
Jenn Williams (Archives and Special Collections)