--- title: Barack Obama: Howard University Speech Transcript description: President Obama called on graduates of Howard University to pay it forward in a commencement address Saturday. canonical: https://time.com/4322789/barack-obama-commencement-howard-university/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-09T14:40:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:50:30.618Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Obama's Commencement Address to Howard University og:description: He called on students to pay it forward. og:url: https://time.com/4322789/barack-obama-commencement-howard-university/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt59a69de6acfa7d1a/69889253ab6d778b186a999b/obama6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3247 og:image:height: 1826 og:image:alt: President Obama at Howard University Graduation og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Obama's Commencement Address to Howard University twitter:description: He called on students to pay it forward. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt59a69de6acfa7d1a/69889253ab6d778b186a999b/obama6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Commencement Address to Howard University > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=0e1939b1-052d-4370-9abf-a005c451aad6&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch Obama's Commencement Speech At Howard University [Watch (HLS stream): Watch Obama's Commencement Speech At Howard University](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vF4v3tPl.m3u8) (2:06)  _Published 2016-05-07_ by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith May 9, 2016 2:40 PM UTC by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith May 9, 2016 2:40 PM UTC President Obama [called on graduates of a historically black college](http://time.com/4322109/president-obama-howard-university-graduation-speech/) in Washington, D.C., to pay it forward in a commencement address Saturday. Speaking at Howard University, Obama reflected on his status as the first African-American president, noting that the college’s mission was to “ensure those firsts were not the last.” Here’s a full transcript of his remarks. --- > “” --- ## Transcript Barack Hussein Obama. [ APPLAUSE ] Thank you! [ APPLAUSE ] Hello, Howard. [ APPLAUSE ] [ INAUDIBLE ] [ APPLAUSE } [ UNKNOWN ] S! U! [ UNKNOWN ] Given the current state of our political rhetoric and debate, let me say something that may be controversial and that is this. America is a better place Today than it was when I graduated from college. My election did not create a post- racial society. I don't know who was propagating that notion, that was not mine. But the election itself and the subsequent one cuz the first one folks might Made a mistake and the second one they knew what they were getting. The election itself was just one indicator of attitudes have changed. We're no longer entertainers, we're producers, studio executives. No longer small business owners. We're CEOs. For mayors, representatives, Presidents of the United States. [ APPLAUSE ] We've still got a big racial gap in the economic opportunity. The overall unemployment is 5 % but the black unemployment rate is almost nine. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] We've still got an achievement gap Black boys and girls graduate high school and college at lower rates than white boys and white girls. Harriet Tubman may be going on the 20. [ APPLAUSE ] But we've still got a gender gap when a black woman working full time still earns just 66 % of what a white man gets paid [ APPLAUSE ] [ APPLAUSE ] We've got a justice gap. 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