ATLANTA — First lady Michelle Obama was welcomed with thunderous cheers and told the 550 students graduating from historically Black Spelman College that no matter where they go, they need to bring the school’s ideals to the world.
The graduates welled with pride upon her arrival, even as she clapped enthusiastically for their achievements. In Obama, the young women see the essence of the successful, Black career women many of them hope to become. But her message of service to others and helping the underserved also reflected her roles as first lady and a major campaigner for her husband.
Obama delivered four commencement addresses this season, and her choices were politically strategic as the president gears up for his reelection campaign. She was in Iowa last week and in coming weeks will speak at Quantico Middle High School in Virginia to students whose parents serve at the Quantico Marine Base.
“Find those folks who have so much potential but so little opportunity and do for them what Spelman has done for you,” Obama told the HBCU students during her speech. “No matter where you go in the world, you will find folks who have been discounted or dismissed, but who have every bit as much promise as you have. They just haven’t had the chance to fulfill it. It is your obligation to bring Spelman to those folks. Be as ambitious for them as Spelman has been for you.”
Obama’s appearance was a coup for the 130-year-old college, which competed with institutions across the country for her to appear as commencement speaker.
Her popularity, which rivals her husband’s in the Black community, was built on her image as a strong, supportive wife and mother accomplished in her own right as a lawyer and corporate professional. That image changed some two years ago when she took on a much scrutinized role as matriarch of the country’s first Black first family.
“I felt like Spelman stands for all that she stands for,” said Lindsay Alston, 21, of Los Angeles, who graduated with a degree in fine arts. “Being the first lady just adds to her esteem. She’s even more powerful, even more of a role model.”
