FAMU Alum Kim Godwin Recalls Her Humble Beginnings In Inspirational Address to Fall 2023 Graduates

ABC News President Kim Godwin speaks at Fall 2023 Commencement. (Credit Justyn Thomas)

Florida A&M University alum Kim Godwin inspired fall 2023 graduates as she recalled her humble beginnings and her journey to becoming the first Black woman to lead a major American news network.

“For me, it was more than 40 years ago, when my mother, and my then nine-year-old sister, and I boarded a Greyhound bus in New York City for a 30-hour, two-transfer bus ride, headed here to Tallahassee to begin my journey at FAMU. At the time, I was a scared 16-year-old girl with no idea of what life would bring,” said Godwin, who keeps a replica of that Greyhound bus on her desk in her ABC News President’s Office to remind herself of how far she’d come.

“Over my blessed career, I’ve worked at 10 different stations in nine different cities. I’ve worked now for all three national networks, NBC, CBS, and now as the first Black and first female president of ABC. And still, I am here to tell you that there were many times along the way when I was told what I could not do, which meetings I could not attend, and why I was not the choice. In those moments of disappointment, I would often retreat to my tiny, windowless office, get on my knees, and cry—but I couldn’t let them see me sweat. I had daughters to raise and get through college,” Godwin continued.

In her keynote address to the 692 graduates from FAMU’s more than a dozen colleges and schools at the Friday, December 15 ceremony, Godwin reminded the standing-room-only crowd of the importance of her network and by extension, journalism, to the American way of life.

“Our commitment to truth and serving all communities in this country is unshakable. We consider it a privilege to inform, and we’re respectful of – and grateful for – every viewer who trusts ABC News,” Godwin said. “With wars raging in Ukraine and the Israel/Hamas war…the country is tense, and communities are struggling with real fears and real violence surrounding islamophobia and anti-Semitism. We are plagued by gun violence on the streets, and wherever people meet.

“We have a consequential presidential election coming up. We’re struggling with the economics of buying groceries and gas and paying student loans. While many are fighting for their lives, they’re mostly fighting with each other. Party lines have become enemy lines. Still, in the middle of all of this—I believe in the power of my profession. Journalism – a free and independent press – is a cornerstone of democracy.”

 

 

Following her speech, Godwin, ABC News president since April 2021 and former executive vice president of news at CBS, received the President’s Leadership Award and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in recognition of her extraordinary career of leadership as one of the most powerful executives in American media.

Later during the two-and-a-half-hour ceremony, FAMU President Larry Robinson, Ph.D., also presented the President’s Student Leadership Award to Armani Deval Jones, who served as Mr. FAMU for the 2022-2023 school year.

Robinson also recognized five Professors Emeriti – Huberta Jackson-Lowman, Ph.D., Mitwe Musingo, Ph.D., Michael Thomas, Ph.D., Kay Wilder, and Dhyana Ziegler, Ph.D.

 

 

 

Robinson paid tribute to the Napier Leonard family who graduated the fourth member of their family from FAMU. Jamera Blackburn Napier is an Interdisciplinary Studies major and is the fourth child of Mrs. Hazel Napier Leonard to graduate from FAMU. Napier Leonard is also a graduate of FAMU, as well as her children, the late Nathaniel Napier, Sr. (1978); the late Richard Napier, Sr. (1983); and Jamira Napier (2021). Robinson presented the FAMU President’s Award to Napier Leonard. “For the inspiration and motivation, you gave your children in their quest for educational accomplishments, while instilling in them the high qualities that culminated in four graduating from Florida A&M University,” the award read.