So that the stories of who we are will live on for generations to come."

 
The Smithsonian Institution announced that Oprah Winfrey — she of “O, the Oprah Magazine,” Oprah’s Book Club, the Oprah Winfrey Network, and “The Oprah Winfrey Show” — is donating $12 million to the forthcoming National Museum of African American History and Culture, which is due to open near the Washington Monument in 2015. Combined with her $1 million donation in 2007, this makes her the largest donor to the institution.
"I am so proud of African American history and its contributions to our nation as a whole," Winfrey said. "I am deeply appreciative of those who paved the path for me and all who follow in their footsteps. By investing in this museum, I want to help ensure that we both honor and preserve our culture and history, so that the stories of who we are will live on for generations to come."

Loving your own hair — that’s a powerful statement of self-acceptance!

Lets all join in loving who we are and loving our hair... naturally!

Hair has long since been an emotional thing when it comes to black women, or women in general:

“What style is best?”

 “What are the best products for may hair?”


 “Where do get your hair from?”

 “Straight or curly?”

“Should I focus styling my natural hair,

or should I get a weave?”
These are only a sample of the number of questions you get when it comes to black hair.
More and more these days, many ladies are coveting curl patterns that aren’t their own, a trending topic that writer Ruby Mae is addressing by launching her “Love Yourself, Love Your Hair” Campaign–a call to action for women to start loving their own natural hair.
Prompted by questions from Around The World-"ASK RUBY "showing a little girls crying with a captions reading, I Don't Like My Hair! I want long straight hair!" “That moment you realize you like your natural hair,” the writer, author, and life coach,  Ruby Mae created a response to express her concern–but to also explain her views on the matter.
“I don’t want you to not like your hair. The reason I don’t want you to not like your hair is, you and your hair is from the school of ‘love', what you got is a combination of what your parents have, as far as hair and skin color. For most, the reason your hair is such a battle is because you are trying to make it something it isn't . Most people want the hair that somebody else has,” Ruby Mae says to little Black girls around the world and Black women in particular.
She goes on to say: “I want you to love who you are (yourself) and I want you to begin loving your OWN hair, naturally. it’s an inspiration for you to love your OWN hair it allows you to begin to love your OWN self.”
Loving your own hair — that’s a powerful statement of self-acceptance to share with all the beautiful women in your world. Love yourself and your hair will follow!

9 more Black pearls: 4 Little Black Pearls-four little Black girls had been attending Sunday school classes at the church...

9 black pearls scattered on the Black Church floor:   Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC....
In addition to Mr. Pinckney, 41 year old pastor and state senator, the victims were Cynthia Hurd, 54, who served as the regional manager of the St. Andrews branch of the county library; the Rev. DePayne Middleton Doctor, 49, the mother of four daughters — the youngest is in junior high school and the oldest is in college; Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45, a coach of the girls’ track and field team and a speech therapist at Goose Creek High School; Tywanza Sanders, 26, who had graduated from Allen University as a business administration major last year and was looking for a job; Ethel Lee Lance, 70, who had worked at the church for more than three decades; the Rev. Daniel L. Simmons Sr., a retired pastor from another church in Charleston; Myra Thompson, 59; and Susie Jackson, 87.

The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham was used as a meeting-place for civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Ralph David Abernathy and Fred Shutterworth. Tensions became high when the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) became involved in a campaign to register African American to vote in Birmingham.
On Sunday, 15th September, 1963, a white man was seen getting out of a white and turquoise Chevrolet car and placing a box under the steps of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Soon afterwards, at 10.22 a.m., the bomb exploded killing Denise McNair (11), Addie Mae Collins (14), Carole Robertson (14) and Cynthia Wesley (14). The four girls had been attending Sunday school classes at the church. Twenty-three other people were also hurt by the blast.

Addie Mae Collins

Denise McNair

Carole Robertson

Cynthia Wesley

Civil rights activists blamed George Wallace, the Governor of Alabama, for the killings. Only a week before the bombing he had told the New York Times that to stop integration Alabama needed a "few first-class funerals."
A witness identified Robert Chambliss, a member of the Ku Klux Klan, as the man who placed the bomb under the steps of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. He was arrested and charged with murder and possessing a box of 122 sticks of dynamite without a permit. On 8th October, 1963, Chambliss was found not guilty of murder and received a hundred-dollar fine and a six-month jail sentence for having the dynamite.
The case was unsolved until Bill Baxley was elected attorney general of Alabama. He requested the original Federal Bureau of Investigation files on the case and discovered that the organization had accumulated a great deal of evidence against Chambliss that had not been used in the original trial.
In November, 1977 Chambliss was tried once again for the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing. Now aged 73, Chambliss was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. Chambliss died in an Alabama prison on 29th October, 1985.
On 17th May, 2000, the FBI announced that the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing had been carried out by the Ku Klux Klan splinter group, the Cahaba Boys. It was claimed that four men, Robert Chambliss, Herman Cash, Thomas Blanton and Bobby Cherry had been responsible for the crime. Cash was dead but Blanton and Cherry were arrested.
In May 2002 the 71 year old Bobby Cherry was convicted of the murder of Denise McNair, Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley and was sentenced to life in prison.

Black Womanhood

Whatever glory belongs to the race for a development unprecedented in history for the given length of time, a full share belongs to the womanhood of the race.

Mary McLeod Bethune

 

A diamond in the rough

Invest in the human soul. Who knows, it might be a diamond in the rough.
Mary McLeod Bethune

When I learned to read

The whole world opened to me when I learned to read.
Mary McLeod Bethune

 

We have a powerful potential in our youth

We have a powerful potential in our youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends.
Mary McLeod Bethune

There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere

There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.
Nelson Mandela

 

Let freedom reign

Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.

Nelson Mandela

 

I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself

 

 

I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself.
Nelson Mandela

 

President Nelson Mandela

 

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
Nelson Mandela”

"To Fulfill These Rights"-1965 Commencement Address at Howard University President Lyndon B. Johnson

Commencement Address at

Howard University

Lyndon B. Johnson

NOTE: The President spoke at 6:35 p.m. on the Main Quadrangle in front of the library at Howard University in Washington, after being awarded an honorary degree of doctor of laws. His opening words referred to Dr. James M. Nabrit, It., President of the University. During his remarks he referred to Mrs. Patricia Harris, U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg and former associate professor of law at Howard University.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was approved by the President on August 6, 1965.
Dr. Nabrit, my fellow Americans:
I am delighted at the chance to speak at this important and this historic institution. Howard has long been an outstanding center for the education of Negro Americans. Its students are of every race and color and they come from many countries of the world. It is truly a working example of democratic excellence.
Our earth is the home of revolution. In every corner of every continent men charged with hope contend with ancient ways in the pursuit of justice. They reach for the newest of weapons to realize the oldest of dreams, that each may walk in freedom and pride, stretching his talents, enjoying the fruits of the earth.
Our enemies may occasionally seize the day of change, but it is the banner of our revolution they take. And our own future is linked to this process of swift and turbulent change in many lands in the world. But nothing in any country touches us more profoundly, and nothing is more freighted with meaning for our own destiny than the revolution of the Negro American.
In far too many ways American Negroes have been another nation: deprived of freedom, crippled by hatred, the doors of opportunity closed to hope.
In our time change has come to this Nation, too. The American Negro, acting with impressive restraint, has peacefully protested and marched, entered the courtrooms and the seats of government, demanding a justice that has long been denied. The voice of the Negro was the call to action. But it is a tribute to America that, once aroused, the courts and the Congress, the President and most of the people, have been the allies of progress.
LEGAL PROTECTION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Thus we have seen the high court of the country declare that discrimination based on race was repugnant to the Constitution, and therefore void. We have seen in 1957, and 1960, and again in 1964, the first civil rights legislation in this Nation in almost an entire century.
As majority leader of the United States Senate, I helped to guide two of these bills through the Senate. And, as your President, I was proud to sign the third. And now very soon we will have the fourth--a new law guaranteeing every American the right to vote.
No act of my entire administration will give me greater satisfaction than the day when my signature makes this bill, too, the law of this land.
The voting rights bill will be the latest, and among the most important, in a long series of victories. But this victory--as Winston Churchill said of another triumph for freedom--"is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
That beginning is freedom; and the barriers to that freedom are tumbling down. Freedom is the right to share, share fully and equally, in American society--to vote, to hold a job, to enter a public place, to go to school. It is the right to be treated in every part of our national life as a person equal in dignity and promise to all others.
FREEDOM IS NOT ENOUGH
But freedom is not enough. You do not wipe away the scars of centuries by saying: Now you are free to go where you want, and do as you desire, and choose the leaders you please.
You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, "you are free to compete with all the others," and still justly believe that you have been completely fair.
Thus it is not enough just to open the gates of opportunity. All our citizens must have the ability to walk through those gates.
This is the next and the more profound stage of the battle for civil rights. We seek not just freedom but opportunity. We seek not just legal equity but human ability, not just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact and equality as a result.
For the task is to give 20 million Negroes the same chance as every other American to learn and grow, to work and share in society, to develop their abilities--physical, mental and spiritual, and to pursue their individual happiness.
To this end equal opportunity is essential, but not enough, not enough. Men and women of all races are born with the same range of abilities. But ability is not just the product of birth. Ability is stretched or stunted by the family that you live with, and the neighborhood you live in--by the school you go to and the poverty or the richness of your surroundings. It is the product of a hundred unseen forces playing upon the little infant, the child, and finally the man.
PROGRESS FOR SOME
This graduating class at Howard University is witness to the indomitable determination of the Negro American to win his way in American life.
The number of Negroes in schools of higher learning has almost doubled in 15 years. The number of nonwhite professional workers has more than doubled in 10 years. The median income of Negro college women tonight exceeds that of white college women. And there are also the enormous accomplishments of distinguished individual Negroes--many of them graduates of this institution, and one of them the first lady ambassador in the history of the United States.
These are proud and impressive achievements. But they tell only the story of a growing middle class minority, steadily narrowing the gap between them and their white counterparts.
A WIDENING GULF
But for the great majority of Negro Americans-the poor, the unemployed, the uprooted, and the dispossessed--there is a much grimmer story. They still, as we meet here tonight, are another nation. Despite the court orders and the laws, despite the legislative victories and the speeches, for them the walls are rising and the gulf is widening.
Here are some of the facts of this American failure.
Thirty-five years ago the rate of unemployment for Negroes and whites was about the same. Tonight the Negro rate is twice as high.
In 1948 the 8 percent unemployment rate for Negro teenage boys was actually less than that of whites. By last year that rate had grown to 23 percent, as against 13 percent for whites unemployed.
Between 1949 and 1959, the income of Negro men relative to white men declined in every section of this country. From 1952 to 1963 the median income of Negro families compared to white actually dropped from 57 percent to 53 percent.
In the years 1955 through 1957, 22 percent of experienced Negro workers were out of work at some time during the year. In 1961 through 1963 that proportion had soared to 29 percent.
Since 1947 the number of white families living in poverty has decreased 27 percent while the number of poorer nonwhite families decreased only 3 percent.
The infant mortality of nonwhites in 1940 was 70 percent greater than whites. Twenty-two years later it was 90 percent greater.
Moreover, the isolation of Negro from white communities is increasing, rather than decreasing as Negroes crowd into the central cities and become a city within a city.
Of course Negro Americans as well as white Americans have shared in our rising national abundance. But the harsh fact of the matter is that in the battle for true equality too many--far too many--are losing ground every day.
THE CAUSES OF INEQUALITY
We are not completely sure why this is. We know the causes are complex and subtle. But we do know the two broad basic reasons. And we do know that we have to act.
First, Negroes are trapped--as many whites are trapped--in inherited, gateless poverty. They lack training and skills. They are shut in, in slums, without decent medical care. Private and public poverty combine to cripple their capacities.
We are trying to attack these evils through our poverty program, through our education program, through our medical care and our other health programs, and a dozen more of the Great Society programs that are aimed at the root causes of this poverty.
We will increase, and we will accelerate, and we will broaden this attack in years to come until this most enduring of foes finally yields to our unyielding will.
But there is a second cause--much more difficult to explain, more deeply grounded, more desperate in its force. It is the devastating heritage of long years of slavery; and a century of oppression, hatred, and injustice.
SPECIAL NATURE OF NEGRO POVERTY
For Negro poverty is not white poverty. Many of its causes and many of its cures are the same. But there are differences-deep, corrosive, obstinate differences--radiating painful roots into the community, and into the family, and the nature of the individual.
These differences are not racial differences. They are solely and simply the consequence of ancient brutality, past injustice, and present prejudice. They are anguishing to observe. For the Negro they are a constant reminder of oppression. For the white they are a constant reminder of guilt. But they must be faced and they must be dealt with and they must be overcome, if we are ever to reach the time when the only difference between Negroes and whites is the color of their skin.
Nor can we find a complete answer in the experience of other American minorities. They made a valiant and a largely successful effort to emerge from poverty and prejudice.
The Negro, like these others, will have to rely mostly upon his own efforts. But he just can not do it alone. For they did not have the heritage of centuries to overcome, and they did not have a cultural tradition which had been twisted and battered by endless years of hatred and hopelessness, nor were they excluded--these others--because of race or color--a feeling whose dark intensity is matched by no other prejudice in our society.
Nor can these differences be understood as isolated infirmities. They are a seamless web. They cause each other. They result from each other. They reinforce each other.
Much of the Negro community is buried under a blanket of history and circumstance. It is not a lasting solution to lift just one corner of that blanket. We must stand on all sides and we must raise the entire cover if we are to liberate our fellow citizens.
THE ROOTS OF INJUSTICE
One of the differences is the increased concentration of Negroes in our cities. More than 73 percent of all Negroes live in urban areas compared with less than 70 percent of the whites. Most of these Negroes live in slums. Most of these Negroes live together--a separated people.
Men are shaped by their world. When it is a world of decay, ringed by an invisible wall, when escape is arduous and uncertain, and the saving pressures of a more hopeful society are unknown, it can cripple the youth and it can desolate the men.
There is also the burden that a dark skin can add to the search for a productive place in our society. Unemployment strikes most swiftly and broadly at the Negro, and this burden erodes hope. Blighted hope breeds despair. Despair brings indifferences to the learning which offers a way out. And despair, coupled with indifferences, is often the source of destructive rebellion against the fabric of society.
There is also the lacerating hurt of early collision with white hatred or prejudice, distaste or condescension. Other groups have felt similar intolerance. But success and achievement could wipe it away. They do not change the color of a man's skin. I have seen this uncomprehending pain in the eyes of the little, young Mexican-American schoolchildren that I taught many years ago. But it can be overcome. But, for many, the wounds are always open.
FAMILY BREAKDOWN
Perhaps most important--its influence radiating to every part of life--is the breakdown of the Negro family structure. For this, most of all, white America must accept responsibility. It flows from centuries of oppression and persecution of the Negro man. It flows from the long years of degradation and discrimination, which have attacked his dignity and assaulted his ability to produce for his family.
This, too, is not pleasant to look upon. But it must be faced by those whose serious intent is to improve the life of all Americans.
Only a minority--less than half--of all Negro children reach the age of 18 having lived all their lives with both of their parents. At this moment, tonight, little less than two-thirds are at home with both of their parents. Probably a majority of all Negro children receive federally-aided public assistance sometime during their childhood.
The family is the cornerstone of our society. More than any other force it shapes the attitude, the hopes, the ambitions, and the values of the child. And when the family collapses it is the children that are usually damaged. When it happens on a massive scale the community itself is crippled.
So, unless we work to strengthen the family, to create conditions under which most parents will stay together--all the rest: schools, and playgrounds, and public assistance, and private concern, will never be enough to cut completely the circle of despair and deprivation.
TO FULFILL THESE RIGHTS
There is no single easy answer to all of these problems.
Jobs are part of the answer. They bring the income which permits a man to provide for his family.
Decent homes in decent surroundings and a chance to learn--an equal chance to learn--are part of the answer.
Welfare and social programs better designed to hold families together are part of the answer.
Care for the sick is part of the answer.
An understanding heart by all Americans is another big part of the answer.
And to all of these fronts--and a dozen more--I will dedicate the expanding efforts of the Johnson administration.
But there are other answers that are still to be found. Nor do we fully understand even all of the problems. Therefore, I want to announce tonight that this fall I intend to call a White House conference of scholars, and experts, and outstanding Negro leaders--men of both races--and officials of Government at every level.
This White House conference's theme and title will be "To Fulfill These Rights."
Its object will be to help the American Negro fulfill the rights which, after the long time of injustice, he is finally about to secure.
To move beyond opportunity to achievement.
To shatter forever not only the barriers of law and public practice, but the walls which bound the condition of many by the color of his skin.
To dissolve, as best we can, the antique enmities of the heart which diminish the holder, divide the great democracy, and do wrong--great wrong--to the children of God.
And I pledge you tonight that this will be a chief goal of my administration, and of my program next year, and in the years to come. And I hope, and I pray, and I believe, it will be a part of the program of all America.
WHAT IS JUSTICE
For what is justice?
It is to fulfill the fair expectations of man.
Thus, American justice is a very special thing. For, from the first, this has been a land of towering expectations. It was to be a nation where each man could be ruled by the common consent of all--enshrined in law, given life by institutions, guided by men themselves subject to its rule. And all--all of every station and origin--would be touched equally in obligation and in liberty.
Beyond the law lay the land. It was a rich land, glowing with more abundant promise than man had ever seen. Here, unlike any place yet known, all were to share the harvest.
And beyond this was the dignity of man. Each could become whatever his qualities of mind and spirit would permit--to strive, to seek, and, if he could, to find his happiness.
This is American justice. We have pursued it faithfully to the edge of our imperfections, and we have failed to find it for the American Negro.
So, it is the glorious opportunity of this generation to end the one huge wrong of the American Nation and, in so doing, to find America for ourselves, with the same immense thrill of discovery which gripped those who first began to realize that here, at last, was a home for freedom.
All it will take is for all of us to understand what this country is and what this country must become.
The Scripture promises: "I shall light a candle of understanding in thine heart, which shall not be put out."
Together, and with millions more, we can light that candle of understanding in the heart of all America.
And, once lit, it will never again go out.

Source: Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965. Volume II, entry 301, pp. 635-640. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1966.

Oprah Winfrey speaking there at Howard University. What a speech that was.

NGUYEN: Give you some live pictures now. Yes. That is Ms. Oprah Winfrey. She is speaking at Howard University there, addressing the graduates during their commencement. Let's take a listen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oprah Winfrey, receive at your hand the honorary degree, Doctor of Humanities.

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oprah Gail Winfrey, pre-eminent global media mogul, incomparable international philanthropist, there is no glass ceiling for you to shatter, for you are on an uncharted path guided by infinite divine providence.

You are a universal touchstone personifying living your best life. Spiritually, physically, productively, happily, generously, faithfully, and fully engaged as a servant leader to all of God's creatures. Your beloved mentor and friend, the renowned poet Maya Angelo has said she is an honest, hardworking woman who has developed an unusual amount of caring and courage.

Your unique gifts from the creator allow you to realize your own dreams and your generosity inspires you to help us all grow. We have grown in our own personal spirit soul selves as you communicate, inform, educate, empathize, challenge, commit, care, generate, give, dedicate, dream, trust, love, believe, act, and do. You hold no false boundaries of race, religion, or gender, demonstrating your limitless ability to relate to all.

You see with a true journalistic eye and intellect, but tell the complete story with your heart. A rare gift from God no doubt, and you use it well. You believe with every experience you alone are painting your own canvas, thought by thought, choice by choice, I always knew I was destined for greatness and you get in life what you have the courage to ask for.

We herald and applaud your maternal grandmother, Hattie Mae Presley (ph) Lee, with whom you lived during the early formative years in rural Mississippi. She is an example of our collective ancestral grandmothers and what they bring to the table of life. The unconditional love, intuition, understanding, faith, courage, strength, wisdom and grace, all wrapped up in backbreaking hard work, with no complaints and heaping spoonfuls of more love, hope and heartfelt desires for our rise.

You said, I am what I am because of my grandmother. My strength, my sense of reasoning, everything. All of that was said by the time I was six. Reading from the age of three, you regularly spoke on Sundays at the Faith United Mississippi Baptist Church in your hometown in Mississippi.

You remember the words, and little Ms. Winfrey is here to do the recitation.

(LAUGHTER) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And afterwards ladies saying, Hattie Mae, this girl is gifted and you believed them in talking has always been your forte. As a teenager in Nashville, Tennessee, living with your father Vernon, you continued speaking in churches throughout the city.

When my father took me, you say, it changed the course of my life. He saved me. I was definitely headed for a career as a juvenile delinquent. You have stated Vernon Winfrey explained the ways of the world to you by saying, there are those who make things happen, there are those who watch things happen, and there those that don't know what is happening.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 1973 you left TSU as the first African- American TV correspondent and the youngest to ever anchor the news at WTVF TV in Nashville, and began your meteoric rise. And the string of firsts, bumping Donahue, syndicating "The Oprah Winfrey Show," establishing Harpo Incorporated, portraying Sofia in "The Color Purple," establishing Harpo Films, and owning a major part of the distribution with Kingworld, making you a leader in the world of marketing and branding.

"The Oprah Winfrey Show" begins its 21st season on September 8th, 2007...

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... and has remained the number one talk show for 20 consecutive seasons.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The door to freedom is education, you have said and through your private charity, The Oprah Winfrey Foundation and The Oprah Winfrey Scholars Program, you demonstrate certain (ph) leadership by giving back. After visiting Nelson Mandela in 2000, you pledged $10 million to build schools in South Africa.

You created the Oprah Winfrey Leadership...

HOLMES: All right. We're listening in here, of course, expecting that lady there to the right of the screen to step up and address those graduates at Howard University. We are going to try to get in a quick break because he is introducing her and her list of accomplishments could go on.

NGUYEN: Run long.

HOLMES: For the rest of the day here. So we are going to try to get a quick commercial break in here. And when she steps up to the mike...

NGUYEN: We'll be right back with Oprah.

HOLMES: ... we'll hear from her. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: An emotional day for Oprah Winfrey, as she gets an honorary degree there from Howard University. You can see the emotion on her face. This is really a wonderful day and a wonderful moment for these graduates to hear Oprah Winfrey speak at their graduation ceremony.

HOLMES: Can you imagine? I can't remember who my commencement speaker was. No offense if you're listening.

NGUYEN: But you would remember if it was Oprah, wouldn't you?

HOLMES: If it was, oh, my goodness. But such a big deal for her. I believe it was a Doctorate of Humanities. There it is, up on our screen there. A Doctorate of Humanities for Oprah Winfrey. Of course, done just massive humanitarian work around the country, around the world really. And she is being honored for it today, and expecting to hear -- the class there waiting to hear from Oprah Winfrey herself.

And like you say, wiping the tears there, an emotional time for her and really we just heard a wonderful introduction, a long introduction, of course. She has a long list of accomplishments.

NGUYEN: That list goes so far and so wide. But let's listen to Ms. Winfrey as she speaks.

OPRAH WINFREY, MEDIA MOGUL: Thank you.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

WINFREY: President Swygert, trustees, distinguished guests, my fellow honorees, my she-ro, Dr. Dorothy Height, graduates, parents, friends, what a deep honor to be here today for me.

I think Dr. Gates said it best. You can receive a lot of awards in your life, but there is nothing better...

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

WINFREY: There is nothing better than to be honored by your own.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

WINFREY: Thank you. Thank you. I'll be calling myself Dr. Winfrey on Monday morning on the Oprah show.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

WINFREY: Thank you. Well, let me just say that everybody I know who has ever graduated from here, and that's a lot of y'all...

(LAUGHTER)

WINFREY: ... told me just wait 'til you get there. Just wait 'til you get there. They said to me you are going to feel the love. And Howard, I am feeling you today.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

WINFREY: I am feeling you today. I thank you for the honor of being able to celebrate with you today. I am here because my good friend and former executive producer of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," Dianne Hudson, and new member of the Howard board of trustees, said to me, you have got to come to Howard.

Howard is the bomb.

(CHEER AND APPLAUSE)

WINFREY: Dianne Hudson says, it is our pride, it is a mighty force. You just have to experience it, girl. And she told me this. She said, once you come, it's going to feel like family reunion. And are you going to want to come again and again.

Thank you, Dianne, because it's your passion and commitment to excellence and created continued excellence for this great institution that made me stop whatever I was planning on doing and get to Howard.

And I'm really so glad I did, because I get to see you all. I get to witness and welcome you all to the beginning of your new and fantastic life ahead, if you choose it to be so. And I know that it is there for the choosing, because there is nobody more nurtured and prepared to lead us into an exemplary future than the Howard University graduating class of 2007.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

WINFREY: I can say that nobody knows for sure where you will go in your life. What impact you will have on others. But each one of us may have a better chance than most, because you all have spent four years responding to the nurturing, which is the truest meaning of teaching.

You sat in your different classes. You have tested. You have done your reports. You have turned in your exams. And you deserved to be here today. Congratulations.

(APPLAUSE)

WINFREY: And all after all of the partying is over, and I know there will be some partying up in here, the anxiety may start to creep in. What do you now do with all of this education? I'm here to tell you today, don't worry. Don't worry about it. Relax. Take a breath.

You are in really good hands, because God has got your back.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

WINFREY: All you need to do is know who you are. And I know you know who you are. Because I have, as a part of my Harpo production team two former graduates of Howard, 1991 and '94, Terry Mitchell (ph) and Jackie Taylor (ph), who came with me today, and all the way here they were telling me that when you leave Howard, one thing you know for sure is who you are.

Because Howard teaches you to define yourself by your own terms and not by somebody else's definition. So here are a few things I want you to know that I know for sure. Don't be afraid. All you have to know is who you are. Because there is no such thing as failure. There is no such thing as failure.

What other people label or might try to call failure, I have learned is just God's way of pointing you in a new direction.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

WINFREY: So it's true. You may take several paths that end up on what might be a dead end for you at the moment. But this is what I also know for sure. You must trust in the words of my favorite Bible verse that say: "And know the lord will lead to you a rock that is higher than thou."

Every one of us has a calling. There is a reason why you are here. I know this for sure. And that reason is greater than any degree. It's greater than any paycheck. And it's greater than anything anybody can tell you that are you supposed to do. Your real job is to find out what the reason is and get about the business of doing it.

Your calling isn't something that somebody can tell you about. It's what you feel. It's a part of your life force. It is the thing that gives you juice. The thing that are you supposed to do. And nobody can tell you what that is. You know it inside yourself.

You know, I come from good stock. Dr. Swygert was mentioning my grandmother who had a dream for me. And her dream was not a big dream. Her dream was that one day I could grow up -- she used to say, I want you to grow up and get yourself some good white folks, because my grandmother was a maid and she worked for white folks her whole life.

And her idea of having a big dream was to have white folks who at least treated her with some dignity, who showed her a little bit respect. And she used to say, I want you to -- I hope you get some good white folks that are kind to you. And I regret that she didn't live past 1963 to see that I did grow up and get some really good white folks working for me.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

WINFREY: Oh, yes. So have no fear. Have no fear. God has got your back. And sometimes, sometimes you find out what you are supposed to be doing by doing the things you are not supposed to do. So don't expect the perfect job that defines your life's work to come along next week. If that happens, take the blessing and run with it. But, if not, be grateful to be on the path where you eventually want to live.

Abide in the space of gratitude, because this is what I know for sure. That only through being grateful for how far you've come in your past can you leave room for more blessings to flow. Blessings flow in the space of gratitude. Everything in your life is happening to teach you more about yourself so even in a crisis, be grateful. When disappointed, be grateful. When things aren't going the way you want them to, be grateful that you have sense enough to turn it around.

I spent eight years in Baltimore. I knew in those years in Baltimore that I was unhappy being a television news reporter. But the voice of my father, who thought he knew what I was supposed to do was in my head. He said don't you give up that job, girl. You're never going to $25,000 in one year. That's my father's dream for me. But God could dream a bigger dream than you can dream for yourself. And so I tried to live in the space of God's dream. And the television executives told me when I was in Baltimore that I was just -- it was too much. I was too big, and I was too black.

They told me that I was too engaged, that I was too emotional, I was too -- too much for the news and so they put me on a talk show one day just to run out my contract. And that was the beginning of my story. So I say, even when things are difficult, be grateful. Honor your calling, don't worry about how successful you will be. Don't worry about it. Focus on how significant you can be in service and the success will take care of itself. And always take a stand for yourself. Your values, you are defined by what you stand for. Your integrity is not for sale.

From the very beginning of my career in Baltimore, and I walked in the room and all of the men in the room said to me you need to change your name, because nobody is going to remember your name. You need to change your name and I said what do you want me to change it to? They said we think Susie is a good name. Susie is a friendly name. Susie is a name that people will remember. People can relate to Susie. I said I think I'm going to keep my name if people remember it or not. It is my name. You have to be willing to stand up for what you believe in. If I -- if I could count the number of times I have been asked to compromise and sell out myself for one reason or another, I would be a billionaire 10 times over. My integrity is not for sale and neither is yours.

There are many times -- there are many times Diane Hudson, who has working with me for 20 years can tell you this, many times when we were told that we would lose the advertisers, we would lose the ratings. I said I'm going to take the high road. They said you won't be able to survive in this business taking the high road. You won't be able to get the numbers. The advertisers will drop out and I said let them. Let them. We will chart our own course. We will stand up for what we believe in. And 21 years later, we're still the number one show.

The human death of our integrity is the most we have to offer and I would beseech you to remember what Harriet Tubman said of her efforts to spirit slaves from the plantation. Harriet Tubman once said that she could have liberated thousands more if only she could have convinced them that they were slaves. So do not be a slave to any form of selling out. Maintain your integrity. It has always been, I believe, the only solution to all of the problems in the world and it remains the only solution.

Through your presence here today, you come from a long line of giants whose shoulders you strand on, giants who graduated from this school and giants who never made it to school. I believe in the words of Jimmy Baldwin, your crown has been paid for, so put it on your head and wear it. Your crown has been paid for and so as you walk forth from this place, these hallowed grounds today, the most important lesson I can offer you from my own life is that in order to remain successful, to continue to wear the crown, as you walk the path of privilege, you must not forget the less privileged you left behind.

You cannot continue to succeed in the world or have a fulfilling life in the world unless you choose to use your life in service somehow to others and give back what you have been given. That's how you keep it. That's how you get it. That's how you grow it.

We are in a crisis in this country with black youth. They don't know what you know. They are falling and they're failing. They are dropping out at rates of 50 percent and higher because we, our generation, didn't teach them who they are. We have a responsibility to raise them up, to lift them up to save them, to liberate them from themselves, go out and save a child. And sometimes it doesn't even take a lot to save somebody. As you all know, I built this beautiful school in South Africa, and I spent a lot of time trying to grow my daughters into a future as bright as yours and I can't wait to see some of them come to Howard University.

Recently, I was with them and we were all sitting around talking about careers and the possibility for them and I speak to what is possible. When you see me, you see what is possible. Many years ago, I saw Sidney Poitier receive the academy award in 1964. I was 10 years old and I watched him get the award for "Lilies of the Field." And as he accepted his award, I had never seen a black man on television in a suit. I'd never seen a black man get out of limousine and go anywhere on television. And when I saw Sidney Poitier accept his academy award for "Lilies of the Field," I remember sitting on my linoleum floor baby sitting for my half sister and brother, saying, if a black man can do that, I wonder what I can do.

I stand here a symbol of what is possible when you believe in the dream of your own life. I stand as a symbol of that turtle on the fence. Somebody helped me to get here, just as I know you were helped to get here, Howard, because I know a lot of you came here with only the clothes on your back and a dream for what could be. And so as you have been saved, as you have been liberated, you must liberate others.

I want to share the story about one of our honorees here today. I was in class with all of my girls and we were talking about careers and all -- a lot of my girls say they want to be doctors, because they have seen the ravages of AIDS and they want to grow up and be doctors and some say they want to teach and others say they want to sing or act or dance and there was one girl, one girl who said she wanted to be a historian. And all the other girls started to snicker, because I don't think they had heard the word historian and later that afternoon, I saw her sitting in the computer lab and she was slumped in the chair, and I said, Vindelli (ph), tell me, why are you sitting slumped in the chair? And she said I'm feeling very silly. I'm feeling very, very sad. I said why? She said because I'm not like the other girls. They all want to be really fun things. But I have to tell you, mama Oprah, history is my passion. When I read about the ancestors, it makes me come alive.

So we're sitting there at the computer and I said you know what? I know a famous historian, let's see if we can look him up on the computer and so we punched in Dr. Henry Louis Gates and her expression was you mean he's black? And she said and is he alive? I said, yeah, he's both black and alive. I said you know what? I'm going to e-mail him and see if he will e-mail us back. So I e-mailed Dr. Henry Louis Gates and I told him about my -- my daughter, who was feeling ostracized because she wasn't like all the other girls who wanted to be fun things and Dr. Gates e-mailed back a three-page letter, telling her how as a young boy, he too was one of the only ones who wanted to be a scholar, a Rhodes scholar, telling her how they carried the torch of our ancestors into the future, telling her how it's all right to be what you want to be.

And as she read that letter, I had her read the letter out loud before me. I saw her shoulders get a little straighter, I saw her head get a little taller, I saw her straighten her back and I saw the biggest smile I've ever seen come from the face of a child. And I said tell me how you are feeling now. And she said I'm feeling all right. I'm feeling like I'm not the only one. And so in that moment, through a letter, I saw her get saved. I know that it's possible to do, for every one of our lives, every one of us in our lives to help somebody, to liberate somebody, to save somebody. I know that the motto for Howard is truth and service. And I know when you move through life living your own truth and live through the paradigm of service, you too will be all right. So I beseech you to go forth and serve. Serve first yourself. Honor your calling, do what you are supposed to do. Honor your creator, your family, your ancestors and when you walk this path of privilege, don't forget the less privileged you leave behind.

NGUYEN: Oprah Winfrey speaking there at Howard University. What a speech that was. She talked about honoring your calling and not losing site of your integrity and making sure that you help those along the way get to where they're going. It was really a wonderful speech and then she also talked a little bit about her own history, how people tried to change her when she was coming up. They wanted to change her first name to Susie. Would not be the same as Susie Winfrey, no. Oprah Winfrey is her name and in fact, she is going to be joining "Larry King Live" tomorrow night at 9:00 Eastern. It's a replay of an interview. You don't want to miss that either. We've got much more coming up here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Don't go away. We'll be right back.

Oprah Winfrey -Harvard University's 362nd Commencement- Harvard or Howard - who would benefit more?

Photo: Paul Marotta/Getty Images

 

 

For many students and their families, this time of year marks a momentous rite of passage: It's graduation season. Oprah Winfrey was honored to participate in that tradition at one the most prestigious schools in the country by serving as the principal speaker at the Afternoon Exercises of Harvard University's 362nd Commencement. Read the full transcript of Oprah's speech below.

Oprah Winfrey: Oh my goodness! I'm at Harvard! Wow! To President Faust, my fellow honorands—Carl that was so beautiful, thank you so much—and James Rothenberg, Stephanie Wilson, Harvard faculty, with a special bow to my friend Dr. Henry Louis Gates.

Applause

Oprah Winfrey: All of you alumni, with a special bow to the class of '88, your $115 million.

Applause

Oprah Winfrey: And to you, members of the Harvard class of 2013! Hello!

Applause

Oprah Winfrey: I thank you for allowing me to be a part of the conclusion of this chapter of your lives and the commencement of your next chapter. To say that I'm honored doesn't even begin to quantify the depth of gratitude that really accompanies an honorary doctorate from Harvard. Not too many little girls from rural Mississippi have made it all the way here to Cambridge. And I can tell you that I consider today as I sat on the stage this morning getting teary for you all and then teary for myself, I consider today a defining milestone in a very long and a blessed journey. My one hope today is that I can be a source of some inspiration. I'm going to address my remarks to anybody who has ever felt inferior or felt disadvantaged, felt screwed by life; this is a speech for the quad.

Laughter and applause

Oprah Winfrey: Actually, I was so honored I wanted to do something really special for you. I wanted to be able to have you look under your seats and there would be free master and doctor degrees, but I see you got that covered already. I will be honest with you. I felt a lot of pressure over the past few weeks to come up with something that I could share with you that you hadn't heard before, because after all, you all went to Harvard; I did not. But then I realized that you don't have to necessarily go to Harvard to have a driven, obsessive type A personality. But it helps. And while I may not have graduated from here, I admit that my personality is about as Harvard as they come. You know my television career began unexpectedly. As you heard this morning, I was in the Miss Fire Prevention Contest. That was when I was 16 years old in Nashville, Tennessee, and you had the requirement of having to have red hair in order to win up until the year that I entered. So they were doing the question-and-answer period because I knew I wasn't going to win under the swimsuit competition. So during the question-and-answer period, the question came: "Why, young lady, what would you like to be when you grow up?" And by the time they got to me, all the good answers were gone. So I had seen Barbara Walters on the Today show that morning, so I answered, "I would like to be a journalist. I would like to tell other people's stories in a way that makes a difference in their lives and the world." And as those words were coming out of my mouth, I went: "Whoa! This is pretty good! I would like to be a journalist. I want to make a difference." Well, I was on television by the time I was 19 years old. And in 1986, I launched my own television show with a relentless determination to succeed at first. I was nervous about the competition, and then I became my own competition, raising the bar every year, pushing, pushing, pushing myself as hard as I knew. Sound familiar to anybody here? Eventually, we did make it to the top, and we stayed there for 25 years.

Applause

Oprah Winfrey: The Oprah Winfrey Show was number one in our time slot for 21 years, and I have to tell you I became pretty comfortable with that level of success. But a few years ago, I decided, as you will at some point, that it was time to recalculate, find new territory, break new ground. So I ended the show and launched OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. The initials just worked out for me. So one year later, after launching OWN, nearly every media outlet had proclaimed that my new venture was a flop. Not just a flop, but a big bold flop they call it. I can still remember the day I opened up USA Today and read the headline "Oprah, not quite standing on her OWN." I mean, really, USA Today? Now that's the nice newspaper! It really was this time last year the worst period in my professional life. I was stressed, and I was frustrated, and, quite frankly, I was—actually, I was embarrassed. It was right around that time that President Faust called and asked me to speak here, and I thought: "You want me to speak to Harvard graduates? What could I possibly say to Harvard graduates—some of the most successful graduates in the world—in the very moment when I had stopped succeeding?" So I got off the phone with President Faust, and I went to the shower. It was either that or a bag of Oreos. So I chose the shower. And I was in the shower a long time, and as I was in the shower, the words of an old hymn came to me. You may not know it. It's "By and By When the Morning Comes." And I started thinking about when the morning might come because at the time I thought I was stuck in a hole. And the words came to me "Trouble don't last always" from that hymn, "this too shall pass." And I thought, as I got out of the shower, "I am going to turn this thing around, and I will be better for it. And when I do, I'm going to go to Harvard, and I'm going to speak the truth of it!" So I'm here today to tell you I have turned that network around!

Applause

Oprah Winfrey: And it was all because I wanted to do it by the time I got to speak to you all, so thank you so much. You don't know what motivation you were for me, thank you. I'm even prouder to share a fundamental truth that you might not have learned even as graduates of Harvard, unless you studied the ancient Greek hero with Professor Nagy. Professor Nagy, as we were coming in this morning, said, "Please, Ms. Winfrey, walk decisively."

Applause

Oprah Winfrey: I shall walk decisively. This is what I want to share. It doesn't matter how far you might rise. At some point, you are bound to stumble because you're constantly doing what we do: raising the bar. If you're constantly pushing yourself higher, higher, the law of averages—not to mention the myth of Icarus—predicts that you will at some point fall. And when you do, I want you to know this, remember this: There is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction. Now, when you're down there in the hole, it looks like failure. So this past year I had to spoon-feed those words to myself. And when you're down in the hole, when that moment comes, it's really okay to feel bad for a little while. Give yourself time to mourn what you think you may have lost, but then here's the key: Learn from every mistake because every experience, encounter and particularly your mistakes are there to teach you and force you into being more who you are. And then figure out what is the next right move. And the key to life is to develop an internal moral, emotional GPS that can tell you which way to go. Because now and forever more when you Google yourself, your search results will read "Harvard, 2013." And in a very competitive world, that really is a calling card, because I can tell you as one who employs a lot of people, when I see "Harvard," I sit up a little straighter and say: "Where is he or she? Bring them in." It's an impressive calling card that can lead to even more impressive bullets in the years ahead: lawyer, senator, CEO, scientist, physicist, winners of Nobel and Pulitzer prizes, or late-night talk show host. But the challenge of life, I have found, is to build a résumé that doesn't simply tell a story about what you want to be, but it's a story about who you want to be. It's a résumé that doesn't just tell a story about what you want to accomplish but why. A story that's not just a collection of titles and positions but a story that's really about your purpose. Because when you inevitably stumble and find yourself stuck in a hole, that is the story that will get you out. What is your true calling? What is your dharma? What is your purpose? For me that discovery came in 1994 when I interviewed a little girl who had decided to collect pocket change in order to help other people in need. She raised a thousand dollars all by herself, and I thought, "Well, if that little 9-year-old girl with a bucket and big heart could do that, I wonder what I could do?" So I asked for our viewers to take up their own change collection, and in one month, just from pennies and nickels and dimes, we raised more than $3 million that we used to send one student from every state in the United States to college. That was the beginning of the Angel Network.

Applause

Oprah Winfrey: And so what I did was I simply asked our viewers: "Do what you can wherever you are, from wherever you sit in life. Give me your time or your talent, your money if you have it." And they did. Extend yourself in kindness to other human beings wherever you can. And together, we built 55 schools in 12 different countries and restored nearly 300 homes that were devastated by hurricanes Rita and Katrina. So the Angel Network—I have been on the air for a long time—but it was the Angel Network that actually focused my internal GPS. It helped me to decide that I wasn't going to just be on TV every day but that the goal of my shows, my interviews, my business, my philanthropy, all of it, whatever ventures I might pursue, would be to make clear that what unites us is ultimately far more redeeming and compelling than anything that separates me. Because what had become clear to me—and I want you to know it isn't always clear in the beginning, because as I said, I had been on television since I was 19 years old. But around '94, I got really clear. So don't expect the clarity to come all at once, to know your purpose right away, but what became clear to me was that I was here on earth to use television and not be used by it, to use television to illuminate the transcendent power of our better angels. So this Angel Network, it didn't just change the lives of those who were helped but the lives of those who also did the helping. It reminded us that no matter who we are or what we look like or what we may believe, it is both possible and, more importantly, it becomes powerful to come together in common purpose and common effort. I saw something on the Bill Moyers show recently that so reminded me of this point. It was an interview with David and Francine Wheeler. They lost their 7-year-old son, Ben, in the Sandy Hook tragedy. And even though gun safety legislation to strengthen background checks had just been voted down in Congress at the time that they were doing this interview, they talked about how they refused to be discouraged. Francine said this, she said: "Our hearts are broken, but our spirits are not. I'm going to tell them what it's like to find a conversation about change that is love, and I'm going to do that without fighting them." And then her husband, David, added this: "You simply cannot demonize or vilify someone who doesn't agree with you, because the minute you do that, your discussion is over. And we cannot do that any longer. The problem is too enormous. There has to be some way that this darkness can be banished with light." In our political system and in the media, we often see the reflection of a country that is polarized, that is paralyzed and is self-interested. And yet, I know you know the truth. We all know that we are better than the cynicism and the pessimism that is regurgitated throughout Washington and the 24-hour cable news cycle. Not my channel, by the way. We understand that the vast majority of people in this country believe in stronger background checks because they realize that we can uphold the Second Amendment and also reduce the violence that is robbing us of our children. They don't have to be incompatible.

Applause

Oprah Winfrey: And we understand that most Americans believe in a clear path to citizenship for the 12 million undocumented immigrants who reside in this country because it's possible to both enforce our laws and at the same time embrace the words on the Statue of Liberty that have welcomed generations of huddled masses to our shores. We can do both.

Applause

Oprah Winfrey: And we understand. I know you do because you went to Harvard. There are people from both parties and no party who believe that indigent mothers and families should have access to healthy food and a roof over their heads and a strong public education because here, in the richest nation on Earth, we can afford a basic level of security and opportunity. So the question is, What are we going to do about it? Really. What are you going to do about it? Maybe you agree with these beliefs. Maybe you don't. Maybe you care about these issues, and maybe there are other challenges that you, Class of 2013, are passionate about. Maybe you want to make a difference by serving in government. Maybe you want to launch your own television show. Or maybe you simply want to collect some change. Your parents would appreciate that about now. The point is your generation is charged with this task of breaking through what the body politic has thus far made impervious to change. Each of you has been blessed with this enormous opportunity of attending this prestigious school. You now have a chance to better your life, the lives of your neighbors and also the life of our country. When you do that, let me tell you what I know for sure: That's when your story gets really good. Maya Angelou always says: "When you learn, teach. When you get, give. That, my friends, is what gives your story purpose and meaning." So you all have the power in your own way to develop your own Angel Network, and, in doing so, your class will be armed with more tools of influence and empowerment than any other generation in history. I did it in an analog world. I was blessed with a platform that at its height reached nearly 20 million viewers a day. Now, here in a world of Twitter and Facebook and YouTube and Tumbler, you can reach billions in just seconds. You're the generation that rejected predictions about your detachment and your disengagement by showing up to vote in record numbers in 2008. And when the pundits talked about you, they said you'd be too disappointed, you'd be too dejected to repeat that same kind of turnout in the 2012 election, and you proved them wrong by showing up in even greater numbers. That's who you are.

Applause

Oprah Winfrey: This generation, your generation, I know has developed a finely honed radar for b.s. Can you say "b.s." at Harvard? The spin and phoniness and artificial nastiness that saturates so much of our national debate. I know you all understand better than most that real progress requires authentic—an authentic way of being, honesty and, above all, empathy. I have to say that the single most important lesson I learned in 25 years talking every single day to people was that there is a common denominator in our human experience. Most of us, I tell you, we don't want to be divided. What we want, the common denominator that I found in every single interview, is we want to be validated. We want to be understood. I have done over 35,000 interviews in my career, and as soon as that camera shuts off, everyone always turns to me and inevitably, in their own way, asks this question: "Was that okay?" I heard it from President Bush: I heard it from President Obama. I've heard it from heroes and from housewives. I've heard it from victims and perpetrators of crimes. I even heard it from Beyoncé and all of her Beyoncéness. She finishes performing, hands me the microphone and says, "Was that okay?" Friends and family, yours, enemies, strangers in every argument in every encounter, every exchange—I will tell you they all want to know one thing: Was that okay? Did you hear me? Do you see me? Did what I say mean anything to you? And even though this is a college where Facebook was born, my hope is that you would try to go out and have more face-to-face conversations with people you may disagree with.

Applause

Oprah Winfrey: That you'll have the courage to look them in the eye and hear their point of view and help make sure that the speed and distance and anonymity of our world doesn't cause us to lose our ability to stand in somebody else's shoes and recognize all that we share as a people. This is imperative for you as an individual and for our success as a nation. "There has to be some way that this darkness can be banished with light," says the man whose little boy was massacred on just an ordinary Friday in December. So whether you call it soul or spirit or higher self, intelligence, there is—I know this—there is a light inside each of you, all of us, that illuminates your very human beingness if you let it. And as a young girl from rural Mississippi, I learned long ago that being myself was much easier than pretending to be Barbara Walters. Although, when I first started, because I had Barbara in my head, I would try to sit like Barbara, talk like Barbara, move like Barbara. And then one night, I was on the news reading the news, and I called Canada "Can-a-da," and that was the end of me being Barbara. I cracked myself up on TV. Couldn't stop laughing. And my real personality came through, and I figured out "Oh, gee, I can be a much better Oprah than I could be a pretend Barbara."

Applause

Oprah Winfrey: I know that you all might have a little anxiety now and hesitation about leaving the comfort of college and putting those Harvard credentials to the test. But no matter what challenges or setbacks or disappointments you may encounter along the way, you will find true success and happiness if you have only one goal—there really is only one—and that is this: to fulfill the highest, most truthful expression of yourself as a human being. You want to max out your humanity by using your energy to lift yourself up, your family and the people around you. Theologian Howard Thurman said it best. He said: "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." The world needs—

Applause

Oprah Winfrey: People like Michael Stolzenberg from Fort Lauderdale. When Michael was just 8 years old, Michael nearly died from a bacterial infection that cost him both of his hands and both of his feet. And in an instant, this vibrant little boy became a quadruple amputee, and his life was changed forever. But in losing who he once was, Michael discovered who he wanted to be. He refused to sit in that wheelchair all day and feel sorry for himself, so with prosthetics he learned to walk and run and play again. He joined his middle school lacrosse team, and last month, when he learned that so many victims of the Boston Marathon bombing would become new amputees, Michael decided to banish that darkness with light. Michael and his brother Harris created MikeysRun.com to raise $1 million for other amputees. By the time Harris runs the 2014 Boston Marathon. More than 1,000 miles away from here, these two young brothers are bringing people together to support this Boston community the way their community came together to support Michael. And when this 13-year-old man was asked about his fellow amputees, he said this: "First they will be sad. They're losing something they will never get back, and that's scary. I was scared. But they'll be okay. They just don't know that yet." We might not always know it. We might not always see it, or hear it on the news, or even feel it in our daily lives, but I have faith that no matter what, Class of 2013, you will be okay, and you will make sure our country is okay. I have faith because of that 9-year-old girl who went out and collected the change. I have faith because of David and Francine Wheeler. I have faith because of Michael and Harris Stolzenberg, and I have faith because of you, the network of angels sitting here today. One of them, Khadijah Williams, who came to Harvard four years ago. Khadijah had attended 12 schools in 12 years living out of garbage bags amongst pimps and prostitutes and drug dealers, homeless, going in to department stores, Wal-Mart in the morning, to bathe herself so that she wouldn't smell in front of her classmates, and today she graduates as a member of the Harvard class of 2013.

Applause

Oprah Winfrey: From time to time, you may stumble, fall, you will, for sure, count in this no doubt, you will have questions, and you will have doubts about your path, but I know this: If you're willing to listen, to be guided by that still small voice that is the GPS within yourself, to find out what makes you come alive, you will be more than okay. You will be happy, you will be successful, and you will make a difference in the world. Congratulations, Class of 2013. Congratulations to your family and friends. Good luck and thank you for listening. Was that okay?

Applause

Published on May 31, 2013

 

President Barack Obama gave the commencement address at Morehouse College

Transcript: Obama’s Commencement Speech at Morehouse College

President Barack Obama gave the commencement address at Morehouse College, an all-male historically black college in Atlanta, on May 19.
Below is the transcript of the speech:
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Hello, Morehouse! (Applause.) Thank you, everybody. Please be seated.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: I love you!
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I love you back. (Laughter.) That is why I am here.
I have to say that it is one of the great honors of my life to be able to address this gathering here today. I want to thank Dr. Wilson for his outstanding leadership, and the Board of Trustees. We have Congressman Cedric Richmond and Sanford Bishop — both proud alumni of this school, as well as Congressman Hank Johnson. And one of my dear friends and a great inspiration to us all — the great John Lewis is here. (Applause.) We have your outstanding Mayor, Mr. Kasim Reed, in the house. (Applause.)
To all the members of the Morehouse family. And most of all, congratulations to this distinguished group of Morehouse Men — the Class of 2013. (Applause.)
I have to say that it’s a little hard to follow — not Dr. Wilson, but a skinny guy with a funny name. (Laughter.) Betsegaw Tadele — he’s going to be doing something.
I also have to say that you all are going to get wet. (Laughter.) And I’d be out there with you if I could. (Laughter.) But Secret Service gets nervous. (Laughter.) So I’m going to have to stay here, dry. (Laughter.) But know that I’m there with you in spirit. (Laughter.)
Some of you are graduating summa cum laude. (Applause.) Some of you are graduating magna cum laude. (Applause.) I know some of you are just graduating, “thank you, Lordy.” (Laughter and applause.) That’s appropriate because it’s a Sunday. (Laughter.)
I see some moms and grandmas here, aunts, in their Sunday best — although they are upset about their hair getting messed up. (Laughter.) Michelle would not be sitting in the rain. (Laughter.) She has taught me about hair. (Laughter.)
I want to congratulate all of you — the parents, the grandparents, the brothers and sisters, the family and friends who supported these young men in so many ways. This is your day, as well. Just think about it — your sons, your brothers, your nephews — they spent the last four years far from home and close to Spelman, and yet they are still here today. (Applause.) So you’ve done something right. Graduates, give a big round of applause to your family for everything that they’ve done for you. (Applause.)
I know that some of you had to wait in long lines to get into today’s ceremony. And I would apologize, but it did not have anything to do with security. Those graduates just wanted you to know what it’s like to register for classes here. (Laughter and applause.) And this time of year brings a different kind of stress — every senior stopping by Gloster Hall over the past week making sure your name was actually on the list of students who met all the graduation requirements. (Applause.) If it wasn’t on the list, you had to figure out why. Was it that library book you lent to that trifling roommate who didn’t return it? (Laughter.) Was it Dr. Johnson’s policy class? (Applause.) Did you get enough Crown Forum credits? (Applause.)
On that last point, I’m going to exercise my power as President to declare this speech sufficient Crown Forum credits for any otherwise eligible student to graduate. That is my graduation gift to you. (Applause.) You have a special dispensation.
Now, graduates, I am humbled to stand here with all of you as an honorary Morehouse Man. (Applause.) I finally made it. (Laughter.) And as I do, I’m mindful of an old saying: “You can always tell a Morehouse Man — (applause) — but you can’t tell him much.” (Applause.) And that makes my task a little more difficult, I suppose. But I think it also reflects the sense of pride that’s always been part of this school’s tradition.
Benjamin Mays, who served as the president of Morehouse for almost 30 years, understood that tradition better than anybody. He said — and I quote — “It will not be sufficient for Morehouse College, for any college, for that matter, to produce clever graduates — but rather honest men, men who can be trusted in public and private life — men who are sensitive to the wrongs, the sufferings, and the injustices of society and who are willing to accept responsibility for correcting (those) ills.”
It was that mission — not just to educate men, but to cultivate good men, strong men, upright men — that brought community leaders together just two years after the end of the Civil War. They assembled a list of 37 men, free blacks and freed slaves, who would make up the first prospective class of what later became Morehouse College. Most of those first students had a desire to become teachers and preachers — to better themselves so they could help others do the same.
A century and a half later, times have changed. But the “Morehouse Mystique” still endures. Some of you probably came here from communities where everybody looked like you. Others may have come here in search of a community. And I suspect that some of you probably felt a little bit of culture shock the first time you came together as a class in King’s Chapel. All of a sudden, you weren’t the only high school sports captain, you weren’t the only student council president. You were suddenly in a group of high achievers, and that meant you were expected to do something more.
That’s the unique sense of purpose that this place has always infused — the conviction that this is a training ground not only for individual success, but for leadership that can change the world.
Dr. King was just 15 years old when he enrolled here at Morehouse. He was an unknown, undersized, unassuming young freshman who lived at home with his parents. And I think it’s fair to say he wasn’t the coolest kid on campus — for the suits he wore, his classmates called him “Tweed.” But his education at Morehouse helped to forge the intellect, the discipline, the compassion, the soul force that would transform America. It was here that he was introduced to the writings of Gandhi and Thoreau, and the theory of civil disobedience. It was here that professors encouraged him to look past the world as it was and fight for the world as it should be. And it was here, at Morehouse, as Dr. King later wrote, where “I realized that nobody — was afraid.”
Not even of some bad weather. I added on that part. (Laughter.) I know it’s wet out there. But Dr. Wilson told me you all had a choice and decided to do it out here anyway. (Applause.) That’s a Morehouse Man talking.
Now, think about it. For black men in the ’40s and the ’50s, the threat of violence, the constant humiliations, large and small, the uncertainty that you could support a family, the gnawing doubts born of the Jim Crow culture that told you every day that somehow you were inferior, the temptation to shrink from the world, to accept your place, to avoid risks, to be afraid — that temptation was necessarily strong.
And yet, here, under the tutelage of men like Dr. Mays, young Martin learned to be unafraid. And he, in turn, taught others to be unafraid. And over time, he taught a nation to be unafraid. And over the last 50 years, thanks to the moral force of Dr. King and a Moses generation that overcame their fear and their cynicism and their despair, barriers have come tumbling down, and new doors of opportunity have swung open, and laws and hearts and minds have been changed to the point where someone who looks just like you can somehow come to serve as President of these United States of America. (Applause.)
So the history we share should give you hope. The future we share should give you hope. You’re graduating into an improving job market. You’re living in a time when advances in technology and communication put the world at your fingertips. Your generation is uniquely poised for success unlike any generation of African Americans that came before it.
But that doesn’t mean we don’t have work — because if we’re honest with ourselves, we know that too few of our brothers have the opportunities that you’ve had here at Morehouse.
In troubled neighborhoods all across this country — many of them heavily African American — too few of our citizens have role models to guide them. Communities just a couple miles from my house in Chicago, communities just a couple miles from here — they’re places where jobs are still too scarce and wages are still too low; where schools are underfunded and violence is pervasive; where too many of our men spend their youth not behind a desk in a classroom, but hanging out on the streets or brooding behind a jail cell.
My job, as President, is to advocate for policies that generate more opportunity for everybody — policies that strengthen the middle class and give more people the chance to climb their way into the middle class. Policies that create more good jobs and reduce poverty, and educate more children, and give more families the security of health care, and protect more of our children from the horrors of gun violence. That’s my job. Those are matters of public policy, and it is important for all of us — black, white and brown — to advocate for an America where everybody has got a fair shot in life. Not just some. Not just a few. (Applause.)
But along with collective responsibilities, we have individual responsibilities. There are some things, as black men, we can only do for ourselves. There are some things, as Morehouse Men, that you are obliged to do for those still left behind. As Morehouse Men, you now wield something even more powerful than the diploma you’re about to collect — and that’s the power of your example.
So what I ask of you today is the same thing I ask of every graduating class I address: Use that power for something larger than yourself. Live up to President Mays’s challenge. Be “sensitive to the wrongs, the sufferings, and the injustices of society.” And be “willing to accept responsibility for correcting (those) ills.”
I know that some of you came to Morehouse from communities where life was about keeping your head down and looking out for yourself. Maybe you feel like you escaped, and now you can take your degree and get that fancy job and the nice house and the nice car — and never look back. And don’t get me wrong — with all those student loans you’ve had to take out, I know you’ve got to earn some money. With doors open to you that your parents and grandparents could not even imagine, no one expects you to take a vow of poverty. But I will say it betrays a poverty of ambition if all you think about is what goods you can buy instead of what good you can do. (Applause.)
So, yes, go get that law degree. But if you do, ask yourself if the only option is to defend the rich and the powerful, or if you can also find some time to defend the powerless. Sure, go get your MBA, or start that business. We need black businesses out there. But ask yourselves what broader purpose your business might serve, in putting people to work, or transforming a neighborhood. The most successful CEOs I know didn’t start out intent just on making money — rather, they had a vision of how their product or service would change things, and the money followed. (Applause.)
Some of you may be headed to medical school to become doctors. But make sure you heal folks in underserved communities who really need it, too. For generations, certain groups in this country — especially African Americans — have been desperate in need of access to quality, affordable health care. And as a society, we’re finally beginning to change that. Those of you who are under the age of 26 already have the option to stay on your parent’s health care plan. But all of you are heading into an economy where many young people expect not only to have multiple jobs, but multiple careers.
So starting October 1st, because of the Affordable Care Act — otherwise known as Obamacare — (applause) — you’ll be able to shop for a quality, affordable plan that’s yours and travels with you — a plan that will insure not only your health, but your dreams if you are sick or get in an accident. But we’re going to need some doctors to make sure it works, too. We’ve got to make sure everybody has good health in this country. It’s not just good for you, it’s good for this country. So you’re going to have to spread the word to your fellow young people.
Which brings me to a second point: Just as Morehouse has taught you to expect more of yourselves, inspire those who look up to you to expect more of themselves. We know that too many young men in our community continue to make bad choices. And I have to say, growing up, I made quite a few myself. Sometimes I wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down. I had a tendency sometimes to make excuses for me not doing the right thing. But one of the things that all of you have learned over the last four years is there’s no longer any room for excuses. (Applause.)
I understand there’s a common fraternity creed here at Morehouse: “Excuses are tools of the incompetent used to build bridges to nowhere and monuments of nothingness.” Well, we’ve got no time for excuses. Not because the bitter legacy of slavery and segregation have vanished entirely; they have not. Not because racism and discrimination no longer exist; we know those are still out there. It’s just that in today’s hyperconnected, hypercompetitive world, with millions of young people from China and India and Brazil — many of whom started with a whole lot less than all of you did — all of them entering the global workforce alongside you, nobody is going to give you anything that you have not earned. (Applause.)
Nobody cares how tough your upbringing was. Nobody cares if you suffered some discrimination. And moreover, you have to remember that whatever you’ve gone through, it pales in comparison to the hardships previous generations endured — and they overcame them. And if they overcame them, you can overcome them, too. (Applause.)
You now hail from a lineage and legacy of immeasurably strong men — men who bore tremendous burdens and still laid the stones for the path on which we now walk. You wear the mantle of Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington, and Ralph Bunche and Langston Hughes, and George Washington Carver and Ralph Abernathy and Thurgood Marshall, and, yes, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. These men were many things to many people. And they knew full well the role that racism played in their lives. But when it came to their own accomplishments and sense of purpose, they had no time for excuses.
Every one of you have a grandma or an uncle or a parent who’s told you that at some point in life, as an African American, you have to work twice as hard as anyone else if you want to get by. I think President Mays put it even better: He said, “Whatever you do, strive to do it so well that no man living and no man dead, and no man yet to be born can do it any better.” (Applause.)
And I promise you, what was needed in Dr. Mays’s time, that spirit of excellence, and hard work, and dedication, and no excuses is needed now more than ever. If you think you can just get over in this economy just because you have a Morehouse degree, you’re in for a rude awakening. But if you stay hungry, if you keep hustling, if you keep on your grind and get other folks to do the same — nobody can stop you. (Applause.)
And when I talk about pursuing excellence and setting an example, I’m not just talking about in your professional life. One of today’s graduates, Frederick Anderson — where’s Frederick? Frederick, right here. (Applause.) I know it’s raining, but I’m going to tell about Frederick. Frederick started his college career in Ohio, only to find out that his high school sweetheart back in Georgia was pregnant. So he came back and enrolled in Morehouse to be closer to her. Pretty soon, helping raise a newborn and working night shifts became too much, so he started taking business classes at a technical college instead — doing everything from delivering newspapers to buffing hospital floors to support his family.
And then he enrolled at Morehouse a second time. But even with a job, he couldn’t keep up with the cost of tuition. So after getting his degree from that technical school, this father of three decided to come back to Morehouse for a third time. (Applause.) As Frederick says, “God has a plan for my life, and He’s not done with me yet.”
And today, Frederick is a family man, and a working man, and a Morehouse Man. (Applause.) And that’s what I’m asking all of you to do: Keep setting an example for what it means to be a man. (Applause.) Be the best husband to your wife, or you’re your boyfriend, or your partner. Be the best father you can be to your children. Because nothing is more important.
I was raised by a heroic single mom, wonderful grandparents — made incredible sacrifices for me. And I know there are moms and grandparents here today who did the same thing for all of you. But I sure wish I had had a father who was not only present, but involved.
Didn’t know my dad. And so my whole life, I’ve tried to be for Michelle and my girls what my father was not for my mother and me. I want to break that cycle where a father is not at home — (applause) — where a father is not helping to raise that son or daughter. I want to be a better father, a better husband, a better man.
It’s hard work that demands your constant attention and frequent sacrifice. And I promise you, Michelle will tell you I’m not perfect. She’s got a long list of my imperfections. (Laughter.) Even now, I’m still practicing, I’m still learning, still getting corrected in terms of how to be a fine husband and a good father. But I will tell you this: Everything else is unfulfilled if we fail at family, if we fail at that responsibility. (Applause.)
I know that when I am on my deathbed someday, I will not be thinking about any particular legislation I passed; I will not be thinking about a policy I promoted; I will not be thinking about the speech I gave, I will not be thinking the Nobel Prize I received. I will be thinking about that walk I took with my daughters. I’ll be thinking about a lazy afternoon with my wife. I’ll be thinking about sitting around the dinner table and seeing them happy and healthy and knowing that they were loved. And I’ll be thinking about whether I did right by all of them.
So be a good role model, set a good example for that young brother coming up. If you know somebody who’s not on point, go back and bring that brother along — those who’ve been left behind, who haven’t had the same opportunities we have — they need to hear from you. You’ve got to be engaged on the barbershops, on the basketball court, at church, spend time and energy and presence to give people opportunities and a chance. Pull them up, expose them, support their dreams. Don’t put them down.
We’ve got to teach them just like what we have to learn, what it means to be a man — to serve your city like Maynard Jackson; to shape the culture like Spike Lee; to be like Chester Davenport, one of the first people to integrate the University of Georgia Law School. When he got there, nobody would sit next to him in class. But Chester didn’t mind. Later on, he said, “It was the thing for me to do. Someone needed to be the first.” And today, Chester is here celebrating his 50th reunion. Where is Chester Davenport? He’s here. (Applause.)
So if you’ve had role models, fathers, brothers like that — thank them today. And if you haven’t, commit yourself to being that man to somebody else.
And finally, as you do these things, do them not just for yourself, but don’t even do them just for the African American community. I want you to set your sights higher. At the turn of the last century, W.E.B. DuBois spoke about the “talented tenth” — a class of highly educated, socially conscious leaders in the black community. But it’s not just the African American community that needs you. The country needs you. The world needs you.
As Morehouse Men, many of you know what it’s like to be an outsider; know what it’s like to be marginalized; know what it’s like to feel the sting of discrimination. And that’s an experience that a lot of Americans share. Hispanic Americans know that feeling when somebody asks them where they come from or tell them to go back. Gay and lesbian Americans feel it when a stranger passes judgment on their parenting skills or the love that they share. Muslim Americans feel it when they’re stared at with suspicion because of their faith. Any woman who knows the injustice of earning less pay for doing the same work — she knows what it’s like to be on the outside looking in.
So your experiences give you special insight that today’s leaders need. If you tap into that experience, it should endow you with empathy — the understanding of what it’s like to walk in somebody else’s shoes, to see through their eyes, to know what it’s like when you’re not born on 3rd base, thinking you hit a triple. It should give you the ability to connect. It should give you a sense of compassion and what it means to overcome barriers.
And I will tell you, Class of 2013, whatever success I have achieved, whatever positions of leadership I have held have depended less on Ivy League degrees or SAT scores or GPAs, and have instead been due to that sense of connection and empathy — the special obligation I felt, as a black man like you, to help those who need it most, people who didn’t have the opportunities that I had — because there but for the grace of God, go I — I might have been in their shoes. I might have been in prison. I might have been unemployed. I might not have been able to support a family. And that motivates me. (Applause.)
So it’s up to you to widen your circle of concern — to care about justice for everybody, white, black and brown. Everybody. Not just in your own community, but also across this country and around the world. To make sure everyone has a voice, and everybody gets a seat at the table; that everybody, no matter what you look like or where you come from, what your last name is — it doesn’t matter, everybody gets a chance to walk through those doors of opportunity if they are willing to work hard enough.
When Leland Shelton was four years old — where’s Leland? (Applause.) Stand up, Leland. When Leland Shelton was four years old, social services took him away from his mama, put him in the care of his grandparents. By age 14, he was in the foster care system. Three years after that, Leland enrolled in Morehouse. And today he is graduating Phi Beta Kappa on his way to Harvard Law School. (Applause.) But he’s not stopping there. As a member of the National Foster Care Youth and Alumni Policy Council, he plans to use his law degree to make sure kids like him don’t fall through the cracks. And it won’t matter whether they’re black kids or brown kids or white kids or Native American kids, because he’ll understand what they’re going through. And he’ll be fighting for them. He’ll be in their corner. That’s leadership. That’s a Morehouse Man right there. (Applause.)
That’s what we’ve come to expect from you, Morehouse — a legacy of leaders — not just in our black community, but for the entire American community. To recognize the burdens you carry with you, but to resist the temptation to use them as excuses. To transform the way we think about manhood, and set higher standards for ourselves and for others. To be successful, but also to understand that each of us has responsibilities not just to ourselves, but to one another and to future generations. Men who refuse to be afraid. Men who refuse to be afraid.
Members of the Class of 2013, you are heirs to a great legacy. You have within you that same courage and that same strength, the same resolve as the men who came before you. That’s what being a Morehouse Man is all about. That’s what being an American is all about.
Success may not come quickly or easily. But if you strive to do what’s right, if you work harder and dream bigger, if you set an example in your own lives and do your part to help meet the challenges of our time, then I’m confident that, together, we will continue the never-ending task of perfecting our union.
Congratulations, Class of 2013. God bless you. God bless Morehouse. And God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)