When I heard the news that actor Chadwick Boseman died of colon cancer on Aug. 28, I was devastated. As the Black Panther, Boseman had broken so many barriers and inspired an entire generation of young creators of color. Suddenly, a man with boundless talent and charisma, a superhero, a king, was just gone.
Originally, Boseman planned to translate a love for drawing into a career as an architect. During his junior year at T. L. Hanna High School in Anderson, South Carolina, something happened that permanently altered the course of Boseman’s life. When a member of Boseman’s basketball team was shot and killed, Boseman, to cope, wrote his first play,“Crossroads,” igniting a passion for storytelling.
Boseman pursued this passion by studying at Howard University, where he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in directing, and at the Digital Film Academy in New York. Taking work as a drama instructor while pursuing his directing, Boseman also began a steadily rising acting career. One of his first prominent roles, the character of Reggie Montgomery on the soap opera “All My Children,” turned out to be short-lived when he confronted producers about the racist stereotypes in the show’s writing. Undeterred, he booked roles on shows like “Law and Order” and “ER,” balancing his acting with writing plays such as “Deep Azure,” which scored a nomination for the Joseph Jefferson Award in 2006.
After 10 years, just as he was on the verge of leaving acting for good, Boseman received his first starring film role in the Jackie Robinson biopic “42.” His performance was so inspired and authentic that Robinson’s widow, Rachel Robinson, said she felt like she was seeing her husband again after 40 years. Boseman brought his talent to several more biopics, including “Get on Up” and “Marshall,” but it was his performance in “42” that would lead to him getting his most iconic role.
While the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) enjoyed much success in its early years, many fans clamored for Marvel Studios to bring more diverse stories to the big screen. While there had been Black-led superhero movies in the past, they were still seen as a risk in the eyes of much of the film industry.
The Black Panther was the first superhero of African descent, T’Challa, the warrior king of a fictional, Afrofuturistic country known as Wakanda. Since 1992, multiple attempts were made to bring the Panther to the big screen, including with “Blade” star Wesley Snipes. An official film was finally announced in 2014. Black Panther made his first appearance in 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War,” for which Boseman’s performance received widespread praise.
Directed by Ryan Coogler and co-starring Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright and Angela Bassett, “Black Panther” quickly became a global hit, grossing $1.4 billion. “Black Panther” was the highest grossing film by a Black director, winning multiple Oscars. It was the first film of the superhero genre to receive a nomination for Best Picture. Most importantly, for many young Black children and teenagers, including myself, it was the first time seeing a superhero who looked like them.
The film celebrated the cultural depth and majesty of the African continent in a way few films had, with the Wakandan landscape, architecture and costuming offering a beautiful vision of an African culture that was not besieged by colonialism.
Unlike previous villains in Marvel movies, Erik Killmonger, played by the talented Michael B. Jordan, was a fleshed out, three-dimensional character whose motivations tied directly to unjust treatment of Black people and Wakanda’s refusal to intervene.
The film ended its central conflict not simply with the defeat of the villain, but with T’Challa’s understanding of Erik’s pain and lessons learned from the mistakes of his ancestors. As with his previous roles, Boseman produced a compelling performance that showcased not only the nobility of a warrior king, but also the vulnerability of a human being trying to do what it is right for his people.
Beyond his singular talent as a performer, Boseman will be remembered for his personal integrity and his boundless decency. During an appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” in 2018, Boseman listened in on fans discussing his impact on their lives, then surprised them. During one of these moments, a young Black girl described how Boseman was empowering people like her to create their own art and she expressed her intention to make movies. The first thing that Boseman asked when he revealed himself was, “What type of movies do you want to do?” Out all the things he could have said to her, the first thing on his mind was to nurture her creativity. Where other celebrities would have basked in their own prominence, he chose to empower a young Black child.
That is who Chadwick Boseman was. That is the legacy of the king.
