The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. told Wilberforce University students that their fight for equality after graduation would reflect positively on an alma mater that was already steeped with tradition.
“Wilberforce is the mother ship of historically black universities,” Jackson told the crowd of more than 2,000 people, including about 100 graduating students, in the school’s Alumni Multiplex.
At times Jackson asked the graduates to repeat his words. Jackson told the students, “strong minds bring strong change.”
The civil rights leader, founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, and Democratic presidential candidate in 1984 and 1988 detailed examples of several large corporations and industries in which blacks were under-represented in key positions, and challenged the students to help make up the gap.
“We’re not responsible for being behind, but we are responsible for catching up,” Jackson said.
“Stand up, don’t self-destruct … You’ve got a race to run, and you’re behind.”
RELATED: PHOTOS: Wilberforce Graduation 2014
Jackson noted the 1856 birth of Wilberforce — the nation’s oldest historically black private university — came well before the Civil War. And when the school suspended operations in 1862 because of the war, some of its students went off to fight with the Union army to end slavery
Graduating senior Janel Thomas of Cleveland called Jackson’s commencement address, with its focus on the school’s long and rich history, “very inspirational.”
Jackson’s speech “really makes me have more pride in my school,” Thomas said.
Jackson’s address lasted 20 minutes, and the civil rights leader departed because he had a plane to catch. But on his way out of the crowded gymnasium, Jackson stopped to greet several well-wishers, posing for photos and greeting families. He paused for a long embrace with Jessie O. Gooding, who served as president of the Dayton chapter of the NAACP from 1984 to 2002.
As part of the ceremony, Jackson also received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.
Original reporting by Mark Fisher was included in this story.
About the Author
