--- description: Read Barack Obama's commencement speech at Booker T. Washington High School in 2011. title: Read President Obama's Commencement Address at Booker T. Washington High School image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt19203ae447ff0a15/698893d3cf40a894edc434cf/barack-obama-booker-t-washington-high-school.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Read President Obama's Commencement Address at Booker T. Washington High School  by [Barack Obama](/author/barack-obama/)  ## Barack Obama Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 2, 2016 6:31 PM CUT  President Barack Obama delivers the commencement address at the Booker T. Washington High School graduation ceremony May 16, 2011 in Memphis, Tennessee. President Barack Obama delivers the commencement address at the Booker T. Washington High School graduation ceremony May 16, 2011 in Memphis, Tennessee.Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images  by [Barack Obama](/author/barack-obama/)  ## Barack Obama Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 2, 2016 6:31 PM CUT Here are the [full remarks](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/16/remarks-president-booker-t-washington-high-school-commencement "undefined") from Obama’s speech at Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis, Tennessee in 2011. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4340922/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-booker-t-washington-high-school/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4340922/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-booker-t-washington-high-school/"},"headline":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at Booker T. Washington High School","datePublished":"2016-06-02T18:31:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:39:16.816Z","description":"\"With the right education, both at home and at school, you can learn how to be a better human being\"","url":"https://time.com/4340922/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-booker-t-washington-high-school/","keywords":["Barack Obama","White House","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt19203ae447ff0a15/698893d3cf40a894edc434cf/barack-obama-booker-t-washington-high-school.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Barack Obama","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/barack-obama/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt19203ae447ff0a15/698893d3cf40a894edc434cf/barack-obama-booker-t-washington-high-school.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US President Barack Obama delivers the c","caption":"US President Barack Obama delivers the c","creditText":"Mandel Ngan—AFP/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/4340922/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-booker-t-washington-high-school/","name":"Read President Obama's Commencement Address at Booker T. Washington High School"}}]}] ```