NUMBER OF GRADUATES: 444, including 11 associate's degrees and 23 master's degrees

MAIN SPEAKER: Roger Guenveur Smith, an actor whose movie roles include "School Daze," "Do The Right Thing," "Get On The Bus" and, most recently, "American Gangster."

WHAT HE SAID: Smith transformed into a preacher when he took the lectern, telling the audience how crucial it was for them carve out a niche to survive. He used his father's golden rule, hoping to strike a chord with the graduates.

"Get yourself a trade," he said. "You get something they cannot take away."

Smith also cited Frederick Douglass' famed Fifth of July speech, assuring the historically black university's graduates of their value as they begin their professional lives.

"If he were still among us, he would probably be branded as unpatriotic," he said. "And these friends of Frederick Douglass would be asked to denounce him. But we embrace him, as we embrace the great North Carolinian John Coltrane, who showed us the only way to survive was through a love supreme. So we march to Douglass, and we march to Coltrane, and you marched these 888 feet in here to this beautiful rhythm of survival.

"And we never forget those who sacrificed before us."

NEVER TOO LATE: Teresa Edmondson left college in the late 1970s but re-enrolled a few years ago to keep a pact she'd made with her children.

"I told them if they would graduate, I would do it," said Edmondson, mother of former Enloe High School and N.C. State basketball player Mike Bell, 25. She also has a 23-year-old son, Marquis.

She graduated summa cum laude on Saturday with a bachelor's degree in public administration. Both sons, other relatives and members of the Swing Phi Swing Social Fellowship Incorporated, of which she's a member, were there cheering her on.

Edmondson, who finished classes in the fall, enrolled at N.C. Central University a few months ago to get her master's in public administration. And, she said, she's issued a new challenge to her boys.

"I'm hoping they'll follow close behind."

A CAPACITY CROWD: The graduates may not have taken up all the seats on the floor of Dorton Arena, but their supporters filled the rest of the arena. Dozens of family members packed doorways and aisles and even took up space outside the arena, which has permanent seating for 5,110 people. Handicapped attendees watched from the main floor, a few feet from the graduates.

PARKING WOES: Graduation attendees had to compete for parking with folks looking for bargains at the weekly flea market at the fairgrounds, which some said explained why a relatively large number of people trickled into the ceremony late.

"We spent 20 minutes driving around to find a space," Anita Johnson said.

Raquel Rouse, who drove with Johnson to the graduation, said it was easy to get mad about the parking, but chose instead to think about the graduates she had come to see.

"You have to stay focused on why we're here," Rouse said.