Angela Bassett is set to be honored in Atlanta, GA.
In May 2024, the legendary actress will receive an honorary degree from Spelman College, according to WSB-TV 2 in Atlanta. What’s more, it was announced that Bassett is set to give the commencement speech to the HBCU’s class of 2024.
“Spelman College is honored to have acclaimed actress and director Angela Bassett to bring words of inspiration to our graduating Class of 2024,” Spelman College President Dr. Helene D. Gayle said, according to the outlet.
She continued, “Her work has had a tremendous impact both on and off the screen and serves as an example for our students to lead in their own spaces.”
In addition to Bassett, Spelman College will honor Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, award-winning journalist Rose Scott, and Reverend Dr. Yvette Flunder. Gayle says she looks forward to the honorees being a source of inspiration for not only the class of 2024 but also their families and the overall Spelman College community.
Ahead of her upcoming honorary degree from Spelman College, Bassett received an honorary doctorate of fine arts degree from Yale University, her alma mater, in 2018 — marking her third degree from the Ivy League — as previously reported by AFROTECH™.
“Hey Everybody you good? My heart is full! God blessed me REAL good! Thank you @yale for this blessed honor!,” Bassett wrote in an Instagram caption.
Bassett was one of the 10 recipients that year.
“We are absolutely thrilled to honor the ten honorants,” Vice President for Communications Eileen O’Connor said, per Yale Daily News in New Haven, CT. “They are all deserving of the degrees and [were chosen] through a process of careful selection, and we’re really excited to have them here to celebrate the graduation of the class of 2018.”
Moreover, in 2020, Bassett became the first Black recipient to receive the Yale Undergraduate Lifetime Achievement Award and by 2022 received an additional honorary doctorate from Old Dominion University (ODU) in Virginia, as AFROTECH™ previously reported.
