WATCH: First Lady Michelle Obama addresses racist past at Jackson State commencement

buzzz worthy. . .

Admittedly somewhat jet-lagged from her recent trip to London, First Lady Michelle Obama mustered up all the energy she had to address the 2016 graduates of Jackson State University today.  Mrs. Obama reminded the audience that "the shadows of the past have not completely disappeared" while inspiring hope for the future of race relations in America. Obama referred to the Mississippi school's history of unity during the Civil Rights era by citing a beautiful story about sportmanship between the football teams at Jackson State and Grambling State University.  Below is an excerpt from the powerful speech.

"Back in 1962, during an Ole Miss football game, this stadium became the site of what was essentially a pro-Jim Crow rally, with fans waving Confederate flags and singing a song called “Never No Never” to protest the admission of an African American student to their university.  By halftime, they’d convinced the governor to even speak.  He said just three sentences.  He said, “I love Mississippi.  I love her people, our customs.  I love and respect our heritage.”  And the crowd went wild, because they knew exactly what he meant.

That game was just one small moment in a struggle of civil rights that enflamed this entire country, but often burned hottest right here in Mississippi, the state where a 14-year-old boy named Emmett Till was beaten and murdered.  Where NAACP leader Medgar Evers was assassinated.  Where Freedom Riders overflowed the jails.  Where gunshots would ring out here on your campus, killing young people and littering one of your dorms with bullet holes still seen today. 

It was against that backdrop that one day in October of 1967, something truly extraordinary happened in this stadium.  For years, legal and political pressure had been mounting for the state to desegregate.  And that fall, the state finally announced that for the first time, two black teams would get to play in this stadium.  Those teams were Grambling State and, of course, your own Jackson State Tigers.  (Applause.)   

Now, just think for a moment.  You can only imagine the pressure those teams and their fans were feeling.  For so long, this field had been the pride of white –- and white only -– Mississippi, and now, black fans would fill these stands.  Black coaches would patrol these sidelines.  Black players would sweat and bleed on this field.  How would the world respond?  Would those forces of segregation rise up in protest, or worse?  As one of the players at the time said –- this is a quote -- he said, “There was certainly potential for it to become a very ugly situation.” 

So the Jackson State coach at the time, Coach Paige, thought hard about how to prepare his team.  He sat his players down and told them to stay focused on two goals.  The first:  Beat Grambling State, of course, one of the best teams in the country. The second:  He said, rise above the fray and set a good example, he said, because the whole state, the whole country would be watching. 

So the players made sure their shoes were shined, their laces tied.  They took special pains not to accidentally break anything in the locker room or walk out with a towel.  Because as that player said -- and these are his words -- he said, “We all wanted to be representatives of our families, our hometowns, our communities.”  “We wanted to take care of that stadium as much as we could so it would be there for the next black team.”

And then they went out and they played their hearts out.  And Jackson State won that game, giving Grambling its only loss of the season.  But more importantly, the world saw what would happen when black folks came into this stadium.  What did they see?  They saw people enjoying a football game.  They saw the same kind of skill and sportsmanship and strategy as any other game this stadium had hosted before.

So by simply showing and displaying sportsmanship, those players and coaches and fans joined the long line of heroes who made history in this country -- in our schoolhouses, our department stores, our lunch counters and everywhere else -- all of them using that same time-tested approach that has always moved this country forward.  They didn’t stoop to the level of those who sought to oppress them.  Just the opposite:  They rose up; they combated small-mindedness with dignity, integrity, and excellence." 

Bringing the speech into focus to modern day Obama said the graduation represented a chance to make historic change and motivate voter participation in the 2016 election.  

She asked,  "Are you ready to step up and use your power and your privilege to make change?  Will you honor the legacy of those who came before you who fought so hard, sacrificed so much so that you could be here in this stadium wearing those beautiful caps and gowns today?" This poignant line of reasoning put accountability on the graduates to be the change they want to see, echoing a familiar tag line from President Obama's campaign, "Change you can believe in."