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№ 2015.016 — Wellesley College — Commencement address
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Field: letters
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie addresses Wellesley's class of 2015, drawing on personal anecdotes about makeup, her mother's career, and her own decision to leave medical school to pursue writing. She urges graduates to recognize their privilege, to try to create the world they want, and to make feminism an inclusive movement. She shares the recent kidnapping of her father to reflect on what truly matters, and closes with advice about authenticity, refusing gendered expectations, and loving by both giving and taking.
Key moments
- 01 Anecdote about wearing makeup after being dismissed as a 'small girl'
- 02 Her mother insisting on being called 'chairman' to illustrate that ideologies don't always fit life
- 03 Leaving medical school to pursue writing as an act of trying
- 04 Call to make feminism a big, inclusive party
- 05 Disclosing her father's recent kidnapping and reflecting on what matters
- 06 Advice to not twist oneself to please and to love by giving and taking
Transcript
The full transcript is hosted by the original publisher. Commencement Archive links to the source rather than republishing copyrighted text.
Read the full transcript at source →Provenance
Imported from NPR commencement archive; cross-referenced with Open Commencement DB
NPR archive last updated in 2015; destination availability has not been exhaustively rechecked | Open Commencement DB transcript; not independently verified against the original recording