Taraji P. Henson returned to Howard University and delivered a powerful speech on May 7 during the 2022 commencement ceremony. The award-winning actress was also honored with an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. 

Henderson, 51, graduated from Howard University College of Fine Arts in 1995 with her then-one-year-old son, Marcell Johnson. According to The Dig, she announced her official title before delivering her remarks to the graduating class.

“I would like to take this moment to reintroduce myself: My name is Dr. Taraji Penda Henson, Howard class of 1995,” she said. 

Henson opened up about her experiences as a single mother while navigating through Hollywood earlier in her career. In her commencement speech, she spoke about being an undervalued Black actress and how she was only paid $100,000 for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a $167 million film project. Though she was mourning the loss of her father, Henderson said she “put faith over fear,” researched the role, and prepared for the auditioning process. 

“I had been too well-schooled in auditioning for roles at the Ira Aldridge to not show up or try to phone it in or to not be prepared,” Henson said, referring to the campus theater where she studied fine arts. “You know I did my homework.”

“At the end of the day, I saw $30,000,” Henson said about the 2008 romance drama, after taxes and payouts. “I was angry. I was disgusted, and I was hurt. But instead of stewing in that negative space, instead of becoming cynical, I decided that I would allow hope, not hurt, [to] shape my work.” 

The 51-year-old explained how she prepared for the role of Queenie in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

“[Queenie] was three-dimensional. She was emotional. She was no-nonsense. She had a big heart. She loved big even though she was living in the Jim Crow South, barely 50 years after the end of slavery. And in honoring Queenie, I honored all of our ancestors and sheroes who dreamed of a better future for themselves and then led lives of dignity, grace, and determination, so fiercely that it made our present possible.”  

After landing the role, Henderson was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2008. Her role as Queenie led to a starring role in Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself, released the following year. 

“Hollywood may not have paid me what my work was worth,” Henson said. “But I wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to show the world what the countless Queenies had done and what their sacrifices had meant.” 

Henson also encouraged the graduating students to take care of themselves, including their internal and external health. 

“Howard, I challenge you to take care of yourself mentally and emotionally, as well as physically, because you look today good on the outside to not be doing the work on the inside.”

During her closing remarks at the commencement ceremony, Henson shared advice for the Class of 2022 and motivated them to become who they were destined to be. 

“The doors of the world are open to you… Walk on up, step on through, and with grace and strength, go become who you are destined to be.”

In addition to Henson, Howard University’s honorary recipients included public historian Elizabeth Clark-Lewis, Ph.D.; Robert L. Lumpkins, trustee emeritus of the Howard University Board of Trustees and a past vice-chairman; Stacey J. Mobley, Esq., Howard alumnus and chairman emeritus of the Board of Trustees; and Jonelle Procope, president and chief executive of the Apollo Theater.