‘This is Black excellence,’ NBA star says as Morehouse, Spelman honor grads

The all-men’s HBCU held its commencement on the Morehouse Century Campus on Sunday morning, with metal fencing giving the 578 grads a clear walkway toward the main stage. Their path was lined with hundreds of family members who gathered along the barricades hoping to hug their respective graduates. Smiling students, some teary-eyed, made their way to the stage, waving back to their loved ones yelling from the crowd, all while an organist played a Christian hymn throughout the procession.

Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)

Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)

It was the 142nd commencement for Morehouse and the 139th for Spelman. On Atlanta’s Morehouse campus, just steps away from Spelman, the newest batch of grads were dressed in black robes and caps. To their left sat alumni — some of whom graduated anywhere from 50 to as recently as five years ago — donning matching white straw hats.

“We pause to acknowledge that none of us arrived here alone,” the Rev. Kelly Miller Smith Jr. said during the evocation. “We stand here today on the shoulders of parents and grandparents, teachers and trailblazers, dreamers and freedom fights who believed in possibilities that they could not yet see.”

Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)

Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)

Paul took the podium after receiving an honorary degree from the school and joked that, from now on, he’d like to be addressed as “Dr. Paul” or “Dr. CP3”. Paul conceded he was nervous for the speech and prepared by purchasing a teleprompter to help him practice at home.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist told the grads that Morehouse had prepared them for the challenges the real world will present. But although they have transitioned from Men of Morehouse to become Morehouse Men (a title reserved for graduates of the HBCU), he cautioned that their work was only just beginning.

“Make no mistake, you’ve got to make this more than just a piece of paper,” he said of the degrees they’d soon be collecting. “Who you are, what you value, how you carry yourself in life: That is what will make all the difference.”

Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)

Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)

He offered two pieces of advice, the first of which he got from coach Skip Prosser during Paul’s playing days at Wake Forest University. “Don’t just be a 3 to 6 guy. Be a 6 to 3 guy,” said Paul, urging grads to go above and beyond in their work ethic.

Paul then urged them to push for a cause bigger than themselves, assisting others just like he did on the basketball court thousands of times. “Even when it gets hard, even when it gets lonely, stay the course,” said Paul, before quoting Morehouse alumnus the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “The time is always right to do what is right.”

Reflecting on his childhood, Paul recalled that his grandfather was the first Black man to own a gas station in North Carolina. His grandfather put him to work, having Paul and his brother clean the gas station bathroom, rotate tires and do oil changes. He credited those early days with forming the work ethic that made him one of the greatest passers in NBA history.

“Legacies are defined by how hard you work, how accountable you are, and the lobs you throw to others,” Paul concluded.

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A graduate turned to wave to family and friends in the audience during the Spelman College Commencement ceremony at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park on Sunday, May 17, 2026. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

Meanwhile, the Georgia International Convention Center was packed with families, friends and support circles as 569 graduates walked across the stage during Spelman College’s commencement.

The ceremony for the all-women’s school was centered around declining nationwide initiatives for diversity, equity and inclusion, and speakers were adamant to remind graduates to find solace in their Spelman sisterhood and legacy.

The historic and record-breaking “Spelman 7” — valedictorians Sophia Davis, Mariama Diallo, Nia-Sarai Perry, Alyssa Richardson, Aiyana Ringo, Alexis Sims and Cori’Anna White — each took the commencement podium to uplift their fellow graduates.

“Your future and impact is unlimited,” Sims said.

Guest speaker and political strategist Symone Sanders Townsend, who was awarded an honorary doctorate, explained that the current racial climate is reminiscent of past disruptions within the Black community.

She detailed how at the end of Reconstruction, when Black progress was systemically stalled and Jim Crow laws were enacted, Spelman College was founded.

“That was the country those 11 Black women lived in. They walked into school anyway. They did not wait for the climate to improve,” Sanders Townsend said. “Spelman College is a post-Reconstruction story.”

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Sanders Townsend gave stern advice for graduates to not be bullied out of rooms where they belong, to not be deterred, and reinforced the power of critical thinking.

Spelman College interim President Rosalind Brewer echoed those sentiments. She cautioned the graduates to not allow anyone to belittle them and for graduates to rely on their Spelman network.

“(The world) is not waiting for you with open arms,” Brewer said. “You’re graduating into a moment when many institutions are choosing their words carefully around values — and values that Spelman has never treated as negotiable: dignity, equity and belonging and the full brilliance of Black women.

“Spelman did not educate you to wait for permission,” she said. “Spelman educated you to think clearly, speak with purpose and carry yourself with dignity.”

Black women always persevere, Sanders Townsend vowed. Black women continued to march and build the institutions necessary for education and gathering during oppressive periods.

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

“We are at a hard moment in America right now, and pretending otherwise would bring to me an insult to your intelligence into your future,” Sanders Townsend said.

She cautioned them that the rest of the world is not like Spelman, but she also told the Class of 2026 that the world needs their brilliance.

“Our democracy depends on it,” she said.