20-05-2025
Morehouse College Graduation: Celebrating Brotherhood and Black Excellence
(Photos by Ari Skin)
An African drum procession. Fraternity members barking in celebration. Black kings adjusting each other's proverbial crowns.
There's no graduation quite like Morehouse College's commencement — a spectacular array of pageantry that marks the matriculation of hundreds of Black men every year and reinforces the HBCU's status as a beacon of Black excellence.
The all-male college based in the West End binds together its graduates — notables which include Martin Luther King Jr., former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson, and Academy Award-winning director Spike Lee — under the guiding principles of brotherhood, intellectual curiosity, and dignity. And since 1867, its graduation ceremonies have hammered home that idea.
'Being a Morehouse man is bigger than just being successful in your career,' said Darius Martin, a newly graduated 24-year-old who majored in finance. 'You got to be a pillar in your community … a man of integrity, a man of consequence.'
Scroll through some of the moments captured during Morehouse College's commencement ceremony Sunday.
Sunday's ceremony featured a keynote address from theologian Cornel West, and honorary degrees were bestowed on Oscar-nominated filmmaker Ava DuVernay and the school's president, David A. Thomas. A posthumous degree was awarded to the family of Dennis T. Hubert, a Morehouse student that was lynched by a white mob in Atlanta in the 1930s.
Capital B Atlanta was on hand to capture the sights and sounds of Morehouse's 141st College Commencement on Sunday, celebrating a class of 511 graduates.
The men find themselves leaving campus life during an uncertain time, marked by shifting national politics, federal job cuts, and an economy that some economists say signals an impending recession. But each graduate who spoke with Capital B Atlanta following the ceremony expressed faith that they were prepared.
'I've never been a person that backs down from a challenge,' said Caleb Weaver, a 23-year-old business administration major from Washington, D.C. 'We gonna, you know, walk in — chin up, chest out — and we're gonna face whatever is coming.'
The commencement began outdoors on Morehouse's main campus, as school faculty members, playing African drums, led a procession of graduates clad in black caps and gowns to their seats on the yard.
The Morehouse Glee Club sang 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' before the ceremony moved indoors to the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel due to rain and lightning.
'Once again, we have proven that rain don't stop the 'House,' Thomas said as attendees filled the hallowed hall.
Thomas and Provost Kendrick Brown (right) honor co-valedictorians Elijah Walker (second from left) and Colin Royal. 'Nothing is arbitrary,' Walker said in an address to his classmates. 'Act with intention, and from a place of right.'
Darius Martin's post-commencement look — cowboy hat and belt buckle — nodded to his Texas roots. The San Antonio native called the day bittersweet as he reflected on his journey up to now: transferring schools, bonding with classmates, and experiencing family loss. He memorialized his mother, Angel Martin, via a framed photo and artwork.
Seth Mutenda (third-from-right) watched with pride as his youngest brother, Enosh (center), earned his bachelor's degree in economics surrounded by brilliant Black men who look like him — a far cry from their Tokyo upbringing.
'We were never really surrounded by Black excellence like this,' the 25-year-old told Capital B Atlanta of his 22-year-old sibling, who was a founding member of Morehouse's soccer club. 'Seeing him really cherish that and take that to heart and kind of live that experience … it's been really cool to see him really change from that and be proud of his Blackness.'
A young boy tries on a graduation cap after commencement ends, perhaps envisioning his own future as a Morehouse Man.
Morehouse football tight end Colby Anthony Bell (right) holds a cigar alongside teammate and fellow graduate Cai Teague, a marketing major. Bell, a communications major from Los Angeles who transferred to Morehouse in 2023, said he believes his experience prepared him for corporate America. 'I'm a junior college guy, so I had to get it out the mud,' he said, adding he's excited about the job he has lined up: working in tech sales at the restaurant commerce platform Toast. 'Today is a culmination of my hard work and effort.'
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