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29th Annual Black Graduation Ceremony & Kente Ceremony
Register here
Registration will open spring quarter
Deadline: May 9, 2025
Note: Registering for the Black Graduation and Kente Ceremony does not register you for any other graduation celebration including the UW commencement ceremony, and visa versa.
Date: Sunday, June 8, 2025
Time: 7pm, doors open at 6:15pm
Location: Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, UW (3870 Montlake Blvd NE, Seattle, WA 98105)
Theme: Our Time, Our Triumph, Our Future
Tickets: This year’s event is not ticketed. There is no re-entry into the stadium. There is a clear bag policy.
Accessibility:
The event will include American Sign Language Interpreters, Real Time Captioning and closed captioning options. If you have any issues during the event you can email us at uwblackg@uw.edu or comment in the Livestream, we will have committee members monitoring both.
Accessible parking is in lot E97 and E17. More parking details on our Parking/Directions page.
Digital Program Coming soon
LiveStream Link: 2024 Livestream
Keynote Speaker: TBD
About the Black Graduation Ceremony
The Black Graduation Ceremony is a pre-commencement celebration to honor African, African American and Afro-Caribbean students who through unyielding determination have successfully completed an undergraduate or graduate degree from the University of Washington. The Ceremony is representative of African, African American, and Afro-Caribbean culture and heritage, embraces the value of community and scholarship, and culminates with a Kente Stole presentation. This is a Celebration for Graduates to be recognized for their accomplishments and provided an opportunity to honor significant people who have helped them achieve their goal. Students are honored together in one setting and their families also get the opportunity to celebrate their hard work and dedication.
Participation in the this year’s spring quarter UW Black Graduation Ceremony is open to all UW Bothell, Seattle and Tacoma undergraduate, graduate and professional students who have earned their degree between the previous Autumn and Winter quarters, the current Spring quarter or are scheduled to earn their degree the Summer quarter immediately following this year’s ceremony.
Graduates must register for Black Grad to be listed in the program and receive a recognition gift. The registration deadline is listed at the top of this page, below the photo banner.
The Kente Ceremony
Kente is native to Ghana and was developed in the 17th century by the Ashanti people. It has its roots in a long tradition of African weaving, dating back to about 3000 B.C. Often reserved for royalty, the stole is a visual representation of history, philosophy, ethics, oral literature, religious beliefs, social values and political thoughts.
During the Ceremony each graduate will be gifted with a Kente stole.
Scenes from Black Graduation
Photos by Emile Pitre