Today’s newsletter is about the merry month of May and its Commencement season. There are hundreds of convocation events on campuses around the country but we’ve compiled a few dates for some of the largest historically black colleges and universities, and highlights on commencement speakers.

The spring commencement at Florida A&M University is scheduled for Fri., May 3 and Sat., May 4. The College of Science and Technology and the Florida A&M University-Florida State University College of Engineering, as well as the School of Architecture and Engineering Technology,  will take part in the Saturday ceremony.

Overall, more than 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students will receive degrees at Tennessee State University (TSU).  Renowned activist and civil rights leader, the Reverend Al Sharpton, and Georgetown University professor and bestselling author, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, will be the commencement speakers at TSU. Sharpton will speak on Friday, May 3, at the graduate commencement ceremony. On Saturday, May 4, Dyson will address undergraduate students. TSU’s Undergraduate Commencement Service will be live-streamed on the day of the event.

Dyson, who has been called one of America’s “most significant social commentators” is also slated to speak at Prairie View A&M University’s Spring Commencement for all of its colleges on  Saturday, May 11, 2019.

The award-winning author, public intellectual and political analyst currently serves as a professor of sociology at Georgetown University. Dyson has taught at Brown University, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Columbia University and The University of Pennsylvania. Dyson has authored nearly twenty books on subjects such as the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968, Malcolm X, Rapper Nas’s debut album Illmatic, Tupac, and Marvin Gaye. He was the recipient of the 2007 American Book Award for Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster.

Jackson State University will hold its Undergraduate Commencement on Saturday, May 4. The Undergraduate Commencement speaker will be retired Army general Robert Crear, president, and CEO of the Crear Group LLC.

On Saturday, May 11, Valerie Montgomery Rice, president and academic dean, Morehouse School of Medicine will be the commencement speaker at Albany State University.

North Carolina A&T State University (N.C. A&T) will also hold spring commencement exercises Saturday, May 11 The undergraduate ceremony begins at 8:30 a.m. The graduate ceremony will begin at 1:30 p.m. Both ceremonies will be streamed live. Links will be available on the university’s website and social media channels the day of the event.

Morgan State University has announced that Congressman Elijah E. Cummings will be the keynote speaker for the University’s 143rd Spring Commencement ceremony, on May 18. Cummings, a member of Morgan’s Board of Regents, will deliver his address before a graduating class of nearly 800 undergraduate students.

Howard University’s 151st Commencement Convocation for the Class of 2019 will be on Saturday, May 11 on the Main Yard at 10 a.m.

Virginia State University commencement ceremonies will be held on Sunday, May  19.  The following colleges will have commencement at 2:00 p.m.: College of Graduate Studies, College of Agriculture, Reginald F Lewis College of Business, College of Engineering & Technology, and the College of Natural & Health Sciences. Livestream at Vimeo for VSU 2019 Commencement.