Speech: Isiah Leggett at Howard University, 2007

A speech made by Isiah Leggett at Howard University's Charter Day Convocation on March 9, 2007:

I have been in the audience of these convocations on so many occasions and felt enormous admiration for those honored on this stage. The lives and words of previous speakers filled me with inspiration. Now, standing here today, it is impossible for me to describe to you, my friends and colleagues, the emotion of this very moment.

My heart is filled with the deepest affection for everything and everyone who was and is Howard University.

My spirit soars with the satisfaction I have derived from the scholarship, camaraderie, and fulfillment I have found here in the 36 years that I have been privileged to study and teach among you. In a very special way, I am humbled by the students who have entrusted to me the profound responsibility to prepare them professionally for their service to humankind in the practice of law.

For 140 years, Howard University has prepared young people, mostly African American, for professional careers. No university has sent into the world more African American lawyers, doctors, scientists, teachers and other professionals than Howard University.

This university has contributed mightily to the transformation of African Americans from the agrarian underclass into which we were once relegated to our present status as full participants in this nation's economic, social, and political life. Howard University is acknowledged as an epic American educational success story.

We are achieving success in every aspect of American life. However, much more needs to be done to eliminate the remaining barriers and to advance the march for justice and equal opportunity which has been so eloquently defined, and courageously defended, by leaders educated here at Howard.

I am grateful to have had the opportunity to earn two Howard University degrees. In keeping with Howard's expectations, I have dedicated my life in two worthy overlapping professions.

I have been a member of the esteemed faculty here at Howard Law School and the other, participating in public service as a civic leader and elected official in Maryland.

I cherish both of these professions with equal affection. Each has balanced the other in my life by enhancing my leadership and commitment to the study of law and the general public that I serve.

My education at Howard University was second to none. Among the lessons I learned, none stirred my spirit more than the university's expectation that its graduates, because of who we were, from whence we came, and for the great gift of the world class education Howard provided, were compelled to participate substantially in the development of just public policies to advance our nation and the world toward the goal of a dignified existence for every individual.

As we gather here today we can celebrate the achievement of many of the leaders that Howard has helped to prepare for careers in civil and human rights over the past 50 years. In constitutions throughout the world, equality is more assured; in court rooms, rights are better protected for all.