You may have heard some inspiring graduation speeches before, but you've never heard one like this.
Last Wednesday, Donovan Livingston spoke at Harvard's Graduate School of Education. Livingston, who was receiving his master's degree in education, presented a spoken word poem during his speech. A video of his address has gone viral, with more than 11 million views on Facebook.
Livingston, a North Carolina native, used his speech to address issues Black people face in the United States education system. He had entered a competition to speak at the ceremony, The Charlotte Observer explains, and school administrators quickly realized his speech was very different from those of the other competitors.
"I wanted people to understand both the legacy of inequalities in education, and how we often laud education as this thing that is the great equalizer in our society, and it's really not," Livingston told the Observer. "In many ways, some education systems work to reinforce inequalities in the country. Highlighting that was really important to me."
You can read Livingston's remarks on the Harvard Graduate School of Education website, and check out his speech in the video below.
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