At the time of this address, First Lady Michelle and President Barack Obama were nearing the end of their second term in The White House. Speaking at a historically Black university, she traces the achievements of Tuskegee graduates, praising their resilience in the face of racism. The popular First Lady uses her experiences as a Black woman in the public eye to emphasize how one must drown out the noise of judgment and embrace one’s calling.
Tag: commencement
Donovan Livingston, Harvard University, 2016
Mr Livingston’s poem “Lift Off” elegantly rails against the racism and tokenism Black Americans have faced in our educational systems. it is a call to celebrate the individuality and potential of each student, taking action as well against inequality in education.
Matt Damon, MIT, 2016
Matt Damon is an award-winning actor and founder of www.water.org. He is speaking in his hometown at the site of “Goodwill Hunting” – the movie that catapulted him into the spotlight. He asks graduates to see and experience the world beyond them, to keep the big picture in mind, and to pick an important and timely problem to solve.
Oprah Winfrey, USC Annenberg School of Communications, 2018
Born in a small Mississippi town in 1954, Oprah Winfrey has become an influential and highly respected talk show host, author, philanthropist, actress, and media personality. She plays a key role in modern American life, helping shape cultural trends and fearlessly promoting civil and human rights. In this speech, Oprah calls on graduates of journalism and communications to battle bias, hysteria, and misinformation spread in the media by employing sharp critical thinking, challenging the narratives we are berated with, and lifting up voices whose stories go unheard. She uses the last half of her speech to offer advice for entering the real world, ranging from mattress quality to trusting one’s gut.
Jacinda Ardern, Harvard University, 2022
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addresses the need to recognize and call out corruption within democracies, to de-platform breeding grounds for political biases in media, and to prioritize dialogue between opposing groups without uplifting voices of destructive hate. She ends with a call for kindness.