--- 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: 2026-02-22T17:23:11.337Z 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Commencement Address to Howard University by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith May 9, 2016 2:40 PM UTC  President Obama speaks during the 148th commencement ceremony at Howard University May 7, 2016 in Washington, DC. President Obama speaks during the 148th commencement ceremony at Howard University May 7, 2016 in Washington, DC.Al Drago—Getty Images 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. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4322789/barack-obama-commencement-howard-university/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4322789/barack-obama-commencement-howard-university/"},"headline":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address to Howard University","datePublished":"2016-05-09T14:40:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:23:11.337Z","description":"President Obama called on graduates of Howard University to pay it forward in a commencement address Saturday.","url":"https://time.com/4322789/barack-obama-commencement-howard-university/","keywords":["Barack Obama","White House","Commencement"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt59a69de6acfa7d1a/69889253ab6d778b186a999b/obama6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt59a69de6acfa7d1a/69889253ab6d778b186a999b/obama6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama at Howard University Graduation","caption":"President Obama at Howard University Graduation","creditText":"Al Drago—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4322789/barack-obama-commencement-howard-university/","name":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address to Howard University"}}]}] ```