Graduations aren't just for sons and daughters. They are for parents, too. One of the latest mothers to walk across the stage is Lesley McSpadden, the mother of Michael Brown.
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The activist earned her diploma alongside her daughter, Daysa, in Missouri thanks to the local school district’s adult high school education program, which allowed her to attend classes on weekday afternoons.
McSpadden, who left school after giving birth to her son in her junior year, decided to go back after creating the We Love Our Sons & Daughters Foundation. The initiative, made in her deceased child's honor, focuses on advocating for justice and advancing education. So when Art McCoy, a Missouri school district superintendent, learned McSpadden never completed school, he encouraged her to finish.
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"We had to get her educated and get a diploma," McCoy told the St. Louis Dispatch. "What better way is it to honor your son than to get the degree he got?"
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This week, McSpadden graduated high school 21 years after leaving, smiling from ear to ear.
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In 2014, her son, who was unarmed, was fatally shot by a Ferguson police officer at age 18. His controversial death ignited national outrage, sparking racial tension across the county.
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