Obama tells Morehouse grads to think of more than careers

Enrollment: About 2,300 students.

Graduates: Nearly 550 students graduated Sunday.

Notable alumni: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., theologian Howard Thurman, filmmaker Spike Lee and former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson.

Leadership: John Silvanus Wilson Jr. started as the college’s 11th president in January. Before becoming president, Wilson worked for Obama as executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Schools.

Location: Morehouse is in Atlanta’s West End neighborhood. The school is part of the Atlanta University Center, which is recognized as the world’s largest consortium of HBCUs. Member schools also include: Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse School of Medicine and Spelman College.

HBCUs in Georgia

A public or private college is considered a historically black college or university if it was founded to educate black people before the Civil Rights Act of 1965. Georgia is home to the following HBCUs:

Albany State University (Albany): Founded in 1903.

Clark Atlanta University (Atlanta): Founded in 1988 by merging Clark College (founded in 1869) and Atlanta University (founded in 1865).

Fort Valley State University (Fort Valley): Founded in 1895.

Interdenominational Theological Center (Atlanta): Founded in 1958. It is a consortium of six seminaries and an at-large fellowship for students who are not affiliated with the six denominations.

Morehouse College (Atlanta): A men’s college, founded in 1867.

Morehouse School of Medicine (Atlanta): Founded in 1975 as a program at Morehouse College; in 1981 it became an independent college.

Morris Brown College (Atlanta): Founded in 1881.

Paine College (Augusta): Founded in 1882.

Savannah State University (Savannah): Founded in 1890.

Spelman College (Atlanta): A woman’s college, founded in 1881.

Sources: White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, college websites

President Barack Obama roused the new graduates of Morehouse College on Sunday with a commencement address that spoke directly to racial issues in a way the first African-American president does only sparingly.

Through a steady downpour, Obama — at the close of a trying, scandal-plagued week — told about 500 graduates their obligation as “Morehouse men” is to aim high but also bring along those left behind, and he attributed his own success to “empathy” more than Ivy League degrees and test scores.

He described it as “the special obligation I felt, as a black man like you, to help those who need it most, people who didn’t have the opportunities that I had. Because there but for the grace of God go I. I might have been in their shoes. I might have been in prison. I might have been unemployed. I might not have been able to support a family. And that motivates me.”

He described communities near his home in Chicago and near Morehouse’s campus, “where jobs are still too scarce and wages are still too low; where schools are underfunded and violence is pervasive; where too many of our men spend their youth not behind a desk in a classroom, but hanging out on the streets or brooding behind a jail cell. My job, as president, is to advocate for policies that generate more opportunity for everybody.”

Wearing Morehouse College Maroon, Obama became the first sitting president to deliver a commencement address in Georgia since 1938, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke at the University of Georgia.

Strong morning rains had stopped before Obama arrived on the scene, but thunder told the crowd of about 10,000 onlookers that more was on the way just as the president began his address. The rain didn’t dampen their enthusiasm, or his.

Obama urged graduates to think of more than their careers. He told them to be good role models and inspire others who need a helping hand. He told them Morehouse was “a training ground not only for individual success, but for leadership that can change the world.”

He cited the examples of Dr. Martin Luther King, a graduate; King’s mentor and the school’s longtime president, Dr. Benjamin Mays; of former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson, another Morehouse grad; and of Frederick Anderson and Leland Shelton, two young men who persevered through adversity to be in the audience of graduates Sunday.

“Members of the class of 2013, you are the heirs to a great legacy,” he said. “You have within you the same courage and that same strength, the same resolve as the men who came before you.

“That’s what being a Morehouse Man is all about,” the president said. “That’s what being an American is about. Success may not come quickly or easily. But if you strive to do what’s right; if you work harder and dream bigger; if you set an example in your own lives and do your part to help meet the challenges of our time, then I am confident that, together, we will continue the never-ending task of perfecting our union.”

Obama’s final words were nearly drowned out by thunder. But he stayed long enough to receive an honorary doctor of law degree.

Valedictorian Betsegaw Tadele told classmates that, unlike graduates of other colleges, they will have no trouble remembering who their commencement speaker was 50 years from now.

Referencing one of Obama’s books, Tadele said, “There is no unachievable if you have the audacity of hope.”

Dorian Joyner Sr., 46, of Lithonia, who graduated with his son, Dorian Jr., Sunday, said, “What really struck me was he referenced what Dr. (Benjamin) Mays and Dr. (Martin Luther) King said about giving back… that you gain to give. That’s the sum of his message. We’re blessed with talents in order to give back. Morehouse is a wonderful school with a lot of teachers but the goal is to take that knowledge and give back.”

Despite the weather, people started arriving for the ceremony before daylight Sunday.

Britney Ferguson arrived early to get a front row seat in the family and friends area. The 20-year-old from Hayward, Calif., came to see her brother, Ian Minerve Jr., graduate from Morehouse with his business degree.

“It’s really, really amazing to be here. I’m so happy for my brother,” said the California State University East Bay student. “This inspires me to keep working hard in school so I can graduate and feel success.”

Ferguson’s father got to campus at 3:30 a.m. to save seats for the rest of the family.

“Seeing Obama makes it worth it sitting here in the rain,” she said.

Sean K. Daughtry of Boston, a Morehouse graduate, was in Atlanta to celebrate his 20th class reunion.

“It is a great honor to have our president here and an even greater honor that we are bestowing upon him an honorary degree,” he said. “So we will have a Morehouse man as president.”

Coming to Atlanta helped Obama escape a bumpy week in Washington. New revelations surfaced about the September attack on a U.S. outpost in Benghazi, the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservative groups for improper scrutiny and the Department of Justice obtaining phone records of Associated Press reporters to investigate a national security leak.

Obama did not reference those storms at Morehouse or at a fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee at the Arthur Blank family offices in the West Paces area of Atlanta.

There he met with about 100 guests who had pledged at least $10,000 per couple to spend their lunch with the president. The attendees included former Gov. Roy Barnes, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Michelle Nunn — whom Democrats are courting as a U.S. Senate candidate in 2014. She is the CEO of community service nonprofit Points of Light and daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn.

Obama was upbeat in his remarks about the chances to get his agenda moving in Washington, despite his struggles with Congress.

“You’re starting to see in Washington some sense even among the most partisan folks there that we’ve got to — the balance has tipped too far away from getting stuff done,” Obama said. “And that’s why, for example, I’m optimistic about our capacity to get immigration reform done.”