Chadwick Boseman: Young, Black and Gifted

I still remember the feeling I had after seeing Black Panther back in 2018.  I remember walking out of the theater into the cool night air, the smell of buttered popcorn dissipating in my wake, and feeling this almost electric kind of excitement; I was damn near literally buzzing with what I would later realize was pride.  No, it wasn't an authorial kind of pride (as I had nothing to do with the film's production or subsequent success), but rather a communal kind, born from ingesting just over two hours of Black people being all types of amazing -- and in a Disney movie, no less.  In all honesty I was genuinely taken aback by it because, unfortunately, that just isn't something that happens all the time.  I even wrote about it, saying "It's not just a great 'black' movie; it's a great movie in general," and you know what?  It still is.  That, somehow, was my first time experiencing the late, great Chadwick Boseman carry a film as its lead, and while I understood the impact that the movie he was in and the character he played had on the culture -- and the world -- I still didn't understand the true impact of the man himself.  Now, after his unexpected and unfortunate passing, it only makes sense that I use this platform to shine a light, not only on Boseman's life, but also on what he gave us before he was gone.