Henrietta Bell Wells

The 1930 Wiley College debate team. Wells is in the center of the front row.

Henrietta Bell Wells (October 11, 1912 – February 27, 2008) was the first female member of the debate team at Wiley College, a historically black college in Texas. She participated with them in 1935, when their nearly undefeated season culminated in defeating the team of nationally ranked University of Southern California.

Early life and education She was born Henrietta Pauline Bell on the banks of Buffalo Bayou in Houston, Texas to Octavia Bell, a West Indian single mother. Her maternal grandfather was a "strong Episcopalian" in the West Indies, and she was raised in the Episcopal Church. She graduated as valedictorian from Phyllis Wheatley High School in Houston. The YWCA gave her a small scholarship to attend Wiley College.

The character Samantha Booke in the 2007 movie, The Great Debaters, played by Jurnee Smollett, was loosely based on Wells. Wells stated that she had told Denzel Washington, who directed the film, to also play her team's coach, Melvin B. Tolson, which he did.

Bell died on February 27, 2008, aged 95. She is buried in Paradise North Cemetery in Houston, Texas.