First Lady Michelle Obama delivered a powerful commencement address at Spelman College in 2011, tracing the institution's 130-year legacy from its founding by two Northern women in a damp church basement with just 11 students — many of them former slaves — to the graduating class before her. Obama deliberately chose the word 'inheritance' over 'entitlement,' making clear that Spelman's legacy comes with obligations. She described how the school trained African-American women to be leaders in education and health professions during the era of Black Codes and lynching, established math and biology departments during legalized segregation, and urged Black women to become doctors, lawyers, and engineers when workplaces were filled with 'not just glass ceilings but brick walls.' The speech was a call to recognize that the graduates' success was built on the sacrifice of those who came before.