Countdown to President Obama's Morehouse College Visit and Commencement Address

President Barack Obama will grace the Morehouse College commencement stage on Sunday afternoon, May 19, 2013, in-front of thousands of hardworking graduating students and their families.

The 129th Commencement exercises at Morehouse College will take place - rain or shine - on the Century Campus (the yard between Graves Hall and Harkness Hall).

This is probably the most anticipated visit that the AUC has seen in over 100 years, but its important to point out that First Lady Obama speaking at Spelman College comes in as a very close second.

According to the Morehouse College website, "this event is for invited guests only and will be closed to the general public. Persons without an official ticket will not be permitted."  

A White House official told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that Morehouse was chosen because it is one of the nation’s leading historically black colleges and universities and is among the best and brightest institutions of higher education in the country. 

The official also said that Morehouse is known for its high standard for excellence in learning and social consciousness and is home to a long list of notable alumni that spans the last three centuries.

Morehouse President John Silvanus Wilson Jr. said in a written release that, "the president’s life story trumpets an ethic that we try to instill in all Morehouse Men, namely excellence without apology or compromise.  It’s a good thing to have him here for that reason.”

According to a Morehouse press release, this will be the very first time a "sitting President has given a May commencement address in Georgia, and the first time in three-quarters of a century that one has delivered any commencement speech in Georgia."  The release says that Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave a summer commencement address at the University of Georgia in 1938.

Go to http://www.morehouse.edu/commencement/index.html for complete information about the 129th Commencement.  For information on Reunion activities, go to http://www.morehouse.edu/reunion/index.html.