Michelle Obama to speak at Tuskegee University

By Kim ChandlerAssociated Press TUSKEGEE, Ala. (AP) – Michelle Obama will deliver the commencement address at Tuskegee University on Saturday. The first lady will speak before about 500 graduates at the historically black university in Alabama. Obama will become the second first lady to visit the private school. Eleanor Roosevelt was the first in 1941, when she flew with a black Army pilot to show support for the famed Tuskegee Airmen. Graduates and families lined up hours ahead of time outside the school’s General Daniel “Chappie” James Arena. Sarah Jordan, 21, waited in line with her mortar board emblazoned with “Law School Bound” in pink and white. The Pasadena native is headed back to California for law school after getting her English degree Saturday. “This is such a dream come true for me to have her here. She’s a role model for everyone,” Jordan said. “It means everything especially because I am an aspiring lawyer. I definitely look up to her,” Jordan said. Obama is a graduate of Harvard Law School. A crowd of nearly 4,000 waited for the first lady’s remarks. Tickets were largely limited to family members of graduates. The Tuskegee commencement is one of three graduation ceremonies Obama will speak at this year. She will also deliver remarks at Oberlin College and a high school in her hometown of Chicago. The first lady last visited Alabama in March. She accompanied President Barack Obama and their two daughters to Selma for the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march. The private university was founded in 1881 by Booker T. Washington. The university in central Alabama has an enrollment of about 3,000.