Stacey Abrams To Address Graduates At Bowie State Commencement
BOWIE, Md. (WJZ) -- Voting rights champion Stacey Abrams will address about 700 Bowie State University graduates and their families at a hybrid spring commencement on Friday, May 21 at 10 a.m.
The hybrid ceremony will be in-person for graduates at Bulldog Stadium and a live, online viewing for everyone else.
Abrams, an outspoken advocate in the fight to expand voting access, is also a New York Times-bestselling author of "Our Time Is Now" and "Lead from the Outside." She is widely credited with increasing voter turnout in Georgia for the 2020 presidential election as well as for the state's Senate election and run-off. She was nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts. She made history in 2019 as the first African-American woman to deliver a response to the State of the Union address.
She was also the nation's first African-American female major-party gubernatorial nominee when she ran as the Democratic candidate in the 2018 Georgia governor's race. She won more votes than any Democrat in the state's history. Before her run for governor, she served as a Democratic Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives for seven years.
Abrams holds a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School, a Master of Public Affairs degree from University of Texas at Austin and a bachelor's degree from Spelman College.
Major Riddick Jr. will received the Presidential Medal of Excellence at the commencement. Riddick became the nation's first African American to serve as a governor's chief of staff.