Oprah Winfrey returns to Nashville roots as Tennessee State's 2023 commencement speaker

"You get a degree! You get a degree! You get a degree!"

Oprah Winfrey — Tennessee State University alumna and journalist turned media mogul — will join U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson as speakers at the university's 2023 spring commencement.

Winfrey will return to the historically Black college on Saturday, May 6 as the keynote speaker for the undergraduate ceremony.

A 1986 graduate of Tennessee State University, Winfrey worked at what is now known as WTVF-TV where she was the youngest news anchor and the first black female news anchor.

With a career spanning over three decades, Winfrey has built a media empire with a focus on philanthropy.

Through the course of the years, she has contributed more than $200 million to provide education for academically gifted girls from disadvantaged backgrounds.

In 2020, Winfrey donated more than $20 million in COVID-19 relief support to cities nationwide, including Nashville.

On July 14, 2022, Winfrey attended her father's funeral in Nashville. Vernon Winfrey was a former Metro councilmember and businessman.

Thompson is the longest-serving Black elected official in Mississippi and the longest serving Democrat in the Mississippi Congressional Delegation.

Thompson will speak May 5 at the graduate commencement ceremony.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Oprah Winfrey named keynote speaker at this HBCU's spring commencement