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In 2018 Chadwick Boseman returned to his alma mater to give an unforgettable speech

The Black Panther star left behind so many powerful memories.

Photo pulled from YouTube video

Chadwick Boseman delivers amazing commencement speech.

This article originally appeared on 05.14.18

Howard University alumnus Chadwick Boseman returned to the school to deliver its commencement address.

Speaking to Howard's class of 2018, Boseman channeled his inner T'Challa for an engaging, inspiring half hour filled with bits of wisdom for students and onlookers alike.

"When you have reached the Hilltop, and you are deciding on next steps, you would rather find purpose than a career," the 2000 graduate said, referencing the school's nickname. "Purpose is an essential element of you that crosses disciplines."

A lot of his speech for the school's 150th commencement ceremony was standard fare for a graduation, with inspiring quotes about the importance of failure and perseverance on the path to success.

It was the portion of the speech about activism, however, that served as the true highlight.

He spent several minutes thanking the students for challenging the institution.

In March 2018, students staged an occupation of the school's administration building, a protest that ultimately lasted nine days. It was incredibly successful — their work forced the school to revamp its sexual assault policy, to agree to more oversight on future tuition increases and the role of police on campus, to establish an on-campus food bank, and more."You could have been disgruntled and transferred, but you fought to be participants in making this institution the best that it can be," Boseman said.

Their demonstration illustrates why protests (and the right to protest) matter so much.

It's important not to forget who benefits from protest — not just the people demonstrating but everyone who comes after.

Members of the graduating class won't directly benefit from the concessions they won from administrators. But future generations of students will, and that makes it worthwhile. Protest is anything but selfish.

Graduating class, Howard University, growth and potential

The graduating class of Howard University enjoys the ceremony.

Image pulled from YouTube video

"Many of you will leave Howard and enter systems and institutions that have a history of discrimination and marginalization," said Boseman. "The fact that you have struggled with this university that you love is a sign that you can use your education to improve the world that you're entering."

His acknowledgement that people can love the person or institution they're protesting strikes at one of the most pervasive myths about activism: that if you protest something, it's because you hate it. People protest institutions because they believe in them, because they see potential for growth, and because they care enough to invest energy in it. This fact often gets lost in discussions around activism.

Naturally, Boseman closed his address with a nod to "Black Panther," doing the "Wakanda forever" salute while saying "Howard forever."

Watch Boseman's speech below.

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U.S. Soccer legend Abby Wambach addressed the Barnard College Class of 2018, letting them in on her four secrets to success.

Her commencement address, delivered to the New York women's college, took a long look at her own career — the things she'd do the same and the things she'd change.

Her remarkable speech deviated from some of the more common tropes that make their way into graduation speeches, and instead, she focused on the importance of teamwork.

Even as the all-time leading scorer in U.S. soccer history, the two-time Olympic gold medalist and 2015 World Cup champion emphasized the importance of working as a team. Barnard graduates are their own team, women are a team, and marginalized groups are a team — with considerable overlap among them.

"Like all little girls, I was taught to be grateful. I was taught to keep my head down, stay on the path, and get my job done. I was freaking Little Red Riding Hood," she said to laughter from the crowd.

It's that "Little Red Riding Hood" mentality that she urged graduates to break with.

"If I could go back and tell my younger self one thing, it would be this: 'Abby, you were never Little Red Riding Hood; you were always the wolf,'" she said, calling on members of the audience to embrace their places in the wolf pack.

[rebelmouse-image 19477196 dam="1" original_size="500x281" caption="All GIFs from Barnard/YouTube." expand=1]All GIFs from Barnard/YouTube.

Below are the four rules for success Wambach offered graduates. The rest of us can probably learn a few things from them as well.

1. "Make failure your fuel."

"Here's something the best athletes understand, but seems like a hard concept for non-athletes to grasp," she said:

"Non-athletes don't know what to do with the gift of failure. So they hide it, pretend it never happened, reject it outright — and they end up wasting it. Listen: Failure is not something to be ashamed of, it's something to be POWERED by. Failure is the highest octane fuel your life can run on. You gotta learn to make failure your fuel."

What followed was a story about the time she was on the Youth National Team and got to visit the U.S. Women's National Team when she noticed a conspicuously placed photo reminding the adult team of its failure in the 1995 World Cup.

2. "Lead from the bench."

As her career wound down to a close, Wambach was asked to take a new and unfamiliar role on the team: the bench player. She wasn't happy about it, but went on to say how it inspired her to learn a new way of leadership — one we can all rally around.

"You'll feel benched sometimes too. You'll be passed over for the promotion, taken off the project — you might even find yourself holding a baby instead of a briefcase — watching your colleagues 'get ahead,'" she said:

"Here's what's important. You are allowed to be disappointed when it feels like life's benched you. What you aren't allowed to do is miss your opportunity to lead from the bench. During that last World Cup, my teammates told me that my presence, my support, my vocal and relentless belief in them from the bench is what gave them the confidence they needed to win us that championship. If you're not a leader on the bench, don't call yourself a leader on the field. You're either a leader everywhere or nowhere."

3. "Champion each other."

Women often find themselves set up against one another, competing for a single seat at the bargaining table. Wambach called on graduates to reject the premise of a single seat, instead using the collective power of the "wolf pack" to create a place for everybody.

"Scarcity has been planted inside of us and among us. This scarcity is not our fault. But it is our problem. And it is within our power to create abundance for women where scarcity used to live," she said:

"As you go out into the world: Amplify each others' voices. Demand seats for women, people of color and all marginalized people at every table where decisions are made. Call out each other's wins just like we do on the field, claim the success of one woman as a collective success for all women. Joy. Success. Power. These are not pies where a bigger slice for her means a smaller slice for you. These are infinite. In any revolution, the way to make something true starts with believing it is. Let's claim infinite joy, success, and power — together."

4. "Demand the ball."

Touching on the story of one of her idols, fellow U.S. soccer star Michelle Akers, Wambach stressed the importance of being assertive when necessary and knowing your value. Too often, women are warned not to rock the boat, not to go too far off the path.

If we want progress, however, it's not going to come from sitting back and being polite, she warned:

"Women, at this moment in history, leadership is calling us to say: 'Give me the effing ball. Give me the effing job. Give me the same pay that the guy next to me gets. Give me the promotion. Give me the microphone. Give me the Oval Office. Give me the respect I've earned and give it to my wolf pack, too.'"

There's a lot to learn from Wambach's speech, but the most important message is actually a question: Who do you want to be?

"Don't just ask yourself, 'What do I want to do?'" she said in her closing. "Ask yourself, 'Who do I want to be?'"

Watch the entire speech below. You can also read the transcript on Barnard's website.

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Helen Mirren thought 'feminism' was 'too political.' Here's why she changed her mind.

Actor Helen Mirren addressed graduates of Tulane University in a May 20, 2017, commencement speech peppered with candid one-liners and an adoration for New Orleans — a city she once called home.

"Why the hell are you graduating?" she quipped, professing her love for the Big Easy. "What possible reason is there to leave here and go find jobs?"

Between jokes, however, Mirren touched on a handful of more serious-minded subjects.

In the speech, Mirren explained why she was hesitant to call herself a feminist until only recently.

— (@)

According to Mirren, she used to reject the "feminist" label. But, as she admitted behind the lectern Saturday, she'd also fundamentally misunderstood what feminism was all about.

After noting how "life improves for everyone" when women are given respect and freedoms, Mirren explained why she eventually came around to the label on a more personal level (emphasis added):

"I didn't define myself as a feminist until quite recently, but I had always lived like a feminist and believed in the obvious: that women were as capable and as energetic and as inspiring as men. But to join a movement called feminism seemed too didactic, too political.

However,I have come to understand that feminism is not an abstract idea but a necessity if we — and really by 'we,' I mean you guys — are to move us forward and not backward into ignorance and fearful jealousy."

Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP.

Learning that Mirren wasn't always a self-identifying feminist may come as a surprise to longtime fans.

Spanning five-plus decades, Mirren's extensive career in theater, TV, and film includes a handful of trailblazing roles for women, including her work in the U.K.'s "Prime Suspect" — a rare crime series that championed feminist themes in the 1990s.

Mirren in "Prime Suspect." Photo courtesy of Everett Collection/Granada Television.

More recently, stories highlighting Mirren's belief in gender equality have made waves online, too — like when she hilariously dropped the f-bomb while pointing out Hollywood's sexist casting problem, or when she refused to play nice after being asked a misogynistic question by Michael Parkinson in a resurfaced clip from 1975.

Mirren's prior hesitation to identify as a feminist reflects the unfortunately familiar disconnect between what feminism actually represents and how it's often portrayed.

Mirren starring in the stage play "Agamemnon," part one of Aeschylus' "Oresteia," in1978. Photo by Mike Lawn/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

Merriam-Webster defines feminism as "the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes." By that standard, aren't the vast majority of us feminists? You'd think so. Yet, as one 2013 survey found, just one-fifth of Americans identify as such.

Whether through ignorance or partisanship, the word "feminist" has been mischaracterized — and badly. Feminism, in seeking to secure women the same rights men have enjoyed for centuries, has been explicitly labeled as a movement that is "anti-men." Feminists have been cast as lesbians who don't wear makeup or bras or shave their legs or underarms. And while some feminists might be lesbians who don't wear makeup or bras or shave their legs, this narrow caricature (created and perpetuated by anti-feminists, natch) has succeeded in keeping people from joining the cause even though they are feminists.

The feminist movement has, at times, had its shortfalls — like its historical exclusion of women of color and those in the LGBTQ community, for example — so it's understandable why some groups have rejected the label throughout the years. But the idea of feminism has always been one of equality and empowerment for everyone. With the success of January's Women's March and the increased commercial marketability of women's empowerment messaging (for better or worse), more people are comfortable with the feminist label — and that is welcome progress.

It's a cause Mirren believes is important enough to shout from the rooftops — or from behind lecterns.

"Now, I am a declared feminist," she told the Tulane graduates. "And I would encourage you to be the same."

If you're searching for a defense of the students' actions, look to Pence's speech.

On Sunday, a group of about 150 students walked out during Vice President Mike Pence's commencement address at the University of Notre Dame.

Conservative outlets blasted the silent protest as a form of intolerance to opposing views and an affront to free speech. But according to Mike Pence's own speech, that actually couldn't be further from the truth.

Photo by Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune via AP.

In his address, Pence railed against political correctness, intolerance to others' opinions, and people trying to impose their views on others.

"Far too many campuses across America have become characterized by speech codes, safe zones, tone policing, administration-sanctioned political correctness — all of which amounts to nothing less than the suppression of freedom of speech."

It's undeniably weird advice to get from someone who has — in his 16 years in politics — worked hard to enshrine his own personal views into law and create barriers to others' ability to live their lives.

In early 2015, as governor of Indiana, Pence signed a bill into law allowing businesses to turn away customers for being LGBTQ. As a member of Congress, Pence co-sponsored a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage because he doesn't believe in it. In 2016, he tried to ban Syrian refugees from being resettled in Indiana. He also signed a bill requiring people who have abortions to bury or cremate aborted fetuses because of his personal stance on abortion. One woman was even sentenced to 20 years in prison under a Pence-signed law for "feticide" after self-inducing an abortion.

While it's his right to hold those personal beliefs about abortion, marriage, and Syrian refugees, using the law to impose those views on others (and take away their right to make decisions based on their beliefs) is exactly what he used his speech to say politicians shouldn't do.

Photo by Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune via AP.

After all, what is "political correctness" if not the idea that we should enforce a right and a wrong way of thinking or acting? You'd think that someone opposed to that concept wouldn't use the law to impose their own personal views on others — but that's what Pence has spent a career doing.

The students aren't "snowflakes" for walking out, either — they're simply taking Pence's advice to heart.

A Notre Dame professor offered a perfect defense of the students' actions, telling BuzzFeed writer Anne Helen Petersen (anonymously) that the walkout was a "powerful choice of protest in literally standing up for [what] they believe is right for them, for social justice and civil rights, and for Notre Dame."

— (@)

The best defense came from Pence himself, speaking in support of "free expression," which includes things like, yes, peaceful protests.

Pence offered an impassioned defense of "the time-honored tradition of free expression" and urged students not to allow those who wish to suppress that speech to "be met with silence."

GIFs from University of Notre Dame/YouTube.

Ironically, it's the people who say the students should have stayed seated — some going so far as to say students who walked out should have their degrees withheld — are the ones promoting an "increasing intolerance" to opposing and suppressing free speech.

Luckily, the student protesters heeded the words of the man whose speech they missed by not allowing themselves to be silenced.

Photo by Santiago Flores/South Bend Tribune via AP.

Congrats, Notre Dame class of 2017 for your academic achievements and your commitment to free speech.