Michelle Obama delivers Commencement Address at Tuskegee

Michelle Obama invoked the storied history of Tuskegee University as she urged new graduates to soar to their futures. The first lady gave the commencement address Saturday at the historically black university in Alabama. Obama said the defining story of Tuskegee is that of rising hopes for all African Americans. Obama described how the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American pilots of World War II, endured humiliating slights and how the schools' first students made bricks by hand when there was no money for construction. The speech at the traditionally black college follows a visit by the president and the first lady to Selma in March to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Bloody Sunday. The trip was to honor the civil rights leaders and foot soldiers at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Mr. Obama returned to Alabama a few weeks later to speak about economic issues and regulations for pay day lending businesses. This will be the first of three graduation ceremonies the first lady will speak at this year. Mrs. Obama will also deliver remarks at Oberlin College and King College Prep, a high school in her hometown of Chicago.