Courtesy of Spelman College
Spelman College announced Thursday that actress, director and executive producer Angela Bassett will be the keynote speaker for the College’s 137th Commencement Ceremony and will receive a Doctor of Fine Arts honorary degree. The College will also award an honorary degree – Doctor of Laws – to trailblazing Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, as well as a National Community Service Award to highly acclaimed Atlanta journalist Rose Scott during Commencement at3 p.m., Sunday, May 19, at the Georgia International Convention Center (GICC). The renowned social justice minister Reverend Dr. Yvette Flunder will address graduates during the Baccalaureate Ceremony at 10 a.m., Saturday, May 18, also at the GICC.
Bassett, an Honorary Oscar recipient, is known for captivating performances in iconic films, such as Malcolm X, Waiting to Exhale, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Black Panther, Mission Impossible: Fallout and What’s Love Got to Do With It, for which she received an Academy Award nomination. Bassett returned as the beloved Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and received Golden Globe, Critics Choice, and NAACP Image Entertainer of the Year awards with Academy Award, SAG and BAFTA nominations, as well as the Variety Creative Impact in Acting Award. She is also the star and executive producer of the ABC/Disney hit drama 9-1-1, the recently released Netflix Originals blockbuster feature film Damsel and is narrator of the critically acclaimed NatGeo limited series Queens.
Bassett was named one of the Time 100 and Time Women of the Year in 2023, has earned multiple EMMY nominations and is the recipient of numerous awards, including a SAG Award, 16 NAACP Image Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, the Black Girls Rock! Icon Award and many more.
“Spelman College is honored to have acclaimed actress and director Angela Bassett to bring words of inspiration to our graduating Class of 2024,” said Spelman College President Helene D. Gayle, M.D., MPH. “Her work has had a tremendous impact both on and off the screen and serves as an example for our students to lead in their own spaces. We are equally honored to have a slate of strong Black women join us for our weekend ceremonies, including Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Atlanta community icon Rose Scott and the esteemed Reverend Dr. Yvette Flunder. We look forward to them inspiring our graduates, their families and the Spelman community.”