--- title: Obama Strikes Hopeful Tone at Howard University Graduation description: “Now, it’s your turn" canonical: https://time.com/4322109/president-obama-howard-university-graduation-speech/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-07T18:22:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:50:29.546Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama Strikes Hopeful Tone in Howard University Commencement Speech og:description: “Now, it’s your turn" og:url: https://time.com/4322109/president-obama-howard-university-graduation-speech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcb7b3ade07090914/69889254e20a876590a90bf4/obama5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3480 og:image:height: 1958 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-OBAMA-COMMENCEMENT-government og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama Strikes Hopeful Tone in Howard University Commencement Speech twitter:description: “Now, it’s your turn" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcb7b3ade07090914/69889254e20a876590a90bf4/obama5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama Strikes Hopeful Tone in Howard University Commencement Speech > 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=75ca6afa-6826-41cc-81b8-9d84f5a8f1f2&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 [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 7, 2016 6:22 PM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 7, 2016 6:22 PM UTC President Obama offered a hopeful vision of the country in a speech to the [graduating class of 2016 at Howard University on Saturday](http://www2.howard.edu/), while calling on students of the historically black college to channel their passion into action and emphasizing that “to bring about structural change, awareness is not enough.” In a winding commencement speech, the president followed a mold he often leans on in remarks to black audiences, particularly those filled with young people: a nod to our nation’s racial history, a pit-stop on his presidency, and a call to pay it forward. At Howard, he tailored this message toward the campus, noting some of the famous figures who have graduated from the school, including Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and calling Howard the “centerpiece of African American intellectual life and a central part of our larger American story.” “This institution has been the home of many firsts, the first African American Nobel Peace Prize winner, the [first black Supreme Court Justice](http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19550919,00.html), but it’s mission has been to ensure those firsts were not the last,” Obama said. Reflecting on his own time in school, the president listed the many ways in which the world has improved since he was in college. In 1983, cities were gripped with crime, the economy was stagnant, Obama recalled, even mocking the fashion of the time. Though the president acknowledged that gaps persist between African Americans and their white counterparts in educational attainment, employment, gender pay, and contact with the justice system, he said the class of 2016 is better positioned to meet the challenges ahead than generations before them. “Make no mistake class of 2016, you’ve got plenty of work to do,” he said. “But the truth is your generation is more positioned than ever to meet those challenges.” The president told the crowd of graduates, whose ages ranged from 20 to 74, that he was proud of the work done by the “new guard” of black Civil Rights leaders, including activists from the Black Lives Matter Movement. But the president spent a significant portion of his speech imploring the audience members to vote and remain civically aware. His speech at one point took a frustrated tone when he asked the crowd to think of the work he could have accomplished if black voters had turned out in midterm elections as they had when he was running for president. “Passion is vital but you’ve got to have a strategy and your plan better include voting,” he said. “When we don’t vote we give away our power.” Howard University’s commencement is naturally an embodiment of black pride, and those in attendance were clearly moved to see the first black president of the United States addressing the school. In an opening prayer, the dean of the school’s Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel Dr. Bernard Richardson, called the the president’s presence the “manifestation of the hope and promise,” the school bestows upon the students that pass through its gates. Obama is the first sitting U.S. president to speak at the school’s commencement in 51 years. It was the president’s third address at a Historically College or University, following addresses at Morehouse College in 2013 and Hampton University in 2010. Saturday’s Howard speech was more optimistic than Obama’s remarks at Morehouse, which drew criticism from some quarters for telling students to avoid making excuses for their problems. “One of the things that all of you have learned over the last four years is there’s no longer any room for excuses,” Obama said. “Nobody cares how tough your upbringing was.” At Howard, Obama focussed more on encouraging and inspiring graduates about their future prospects. “Now, it’s your turn,” the president told the graduating class. “And the good news is that you’re ready.” ## 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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