Honor Black Graduates with the Donning of the Kente

Tiger Giving Day is over, but you can still give to the Auburn Alumni Association here.

Help the Auburn Alumni Association Black Alumni Council purchase our Class of 2023 students Kente stoles for our inaugural Donning of the Kente graduation ceremony.

In continuing our institutional mission of building a community that celebrates unity, equity and inclusion, the Auburn Alumni Association Black Alumni Council proudly presents the Donning of the Kente graduation ceremony. This special event honors and applauds the academic achievements of students of the African diaspora by bestowing a Kente cloth stole as a rite of passage. 

Each graduate in this ceremony is draped, or “donned,” with this traditional West African cloth, a cloth of prestige historically reserved for significant occasions, in reverence of African American heritage, symbolizing an embracing past and a welcoming future.

Friends and families have the opportunity to celebrate graduates with reflections of their achievements, while providing well-wishes for a life ripe with abundance and prosperity. Members from the Auburn University community will acknowledge and highlight the tradition of this ceremony, its importance, and their pride in this year’s graduating class.

Graduates are invited to wear their Kente stoles with their formal regalia during commencement exercises, as a hallmark of the African American collegiate experience and to connect to their larger ancestral community.