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.
Before becoming the King of Wakanda (and our hearts), Chadwick Aaron Boseman was born in South Carolina to a nurse and textile worker. Fast forward to Boseman's time in high school and one can see his journey as a man of the people beginning with his writing of a play called Crossroads that he put on in honor of a classmate who fell victim to gun violence. Boseman eventually went on to Howard University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Directing.
Around this time is when a couple of big dogs in the film and entertainment game started not only to pay attention, but also lent an assist. These seasoned professionals were the likes of Denzel Washington and Phylicia Rashad, and as explained by Boseman during the speech he gave just before Washington accepted his AFI Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019, it was that assist that basically made his career as we know it possible.
Rashad, who was both a teacher and mentor of Boseman, tapped Washington for assistance raising funds to send some of her more promising students to the Oxford Mid-Summer Program of the British American Drama Academy. Washington "gracefully and privately agreed to contribute," Boseman noted. "Imagine receiving the letter that your tuition for that summer was paid for and that your benefactor was none other than the dopest actor in the planet."
He later added, "There is no Black Panther without Denzel Washington."
Boseman went on to graduate from New York City's Digital Film Academy, and he also worked as a drama instructor in the Schomburg Junior Scholars Program, presumably as a way to both understand actors better -- his original intent was to write and direct -- and also to help nurture a younger generation of upcoming performers.
In pursuit of his acting career, Boseman did a bunch of TV stuff, which included but wasn't limited to All My Children, Law & Order, ER, Cold Case, Lincoln Heights (one of his first regular roles), Castle, Persons Unknown and Justified. By 2013, Boseman was starring opposite Harrison Ford in 42, a film about the first African American to play and break the color line in the MLB, Jackie Robinson. According to an article for the Associated Press, Robinson's real life widow even went as far as saying that Boseman's performance was like seeing her husband again (which I imagine was an insane thing for Boseman to hear).
Now we jump ahead to 2016, the year that Boseman finally donned that Vibranium onesie and leapt into our homes as prince-turned-king T'Challa, a.k.a. the Black Panther, via the big Marvel Studios vehicle of that year, Captain America: Civil War. Unfortunately, and unbeknownst to both the public and something like 95% of his professional colleagues, this was also the year that Mr. Boseman was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer. He never missed a beat, though, and spent the next three years bringing the Black Panther to the big screen again, not only in the eponymously named film in which he starred (which was one of the highest grossing films of that year), but also in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the fourth and fifth highest grossing films of all time. And as if all that wasn't enough, by the time the credits rolled on Endgame Boseman had already been both James Brown and Thurgood Marshall in major motion pictures. It's almost like 42 had given him a taste for meaty, legendary roles, and he hadn't really looked back since.
Boseman was truly more impactful than I personally had given him credit for prior to his passing, and the moves that he made for the culture are not to be taken lightly. This man was an altruistic virtuoso of a professional, whose work ethic and skillset are revered by all who were fortunate enough to have experienced his energy first hand. I didn't know the man, but I'd bet good money that he'd be happy to know how much the world truly knows what he's done, not only for his fellow people of color, but for all of us. It's almost indescribably important that we not only recognize these accomplishments.
This man didn't only breathe life into one of the most iconic Black superheroes ever, he became one. Rest in Peace, Chadwick Boseman. We'll take it from here.
Photo courtesy of Warner Bros/Disney/Open Road Films
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Ainsley Andrade
Ainsley Andrade is a freelance writer working primarily as a TV critic and influencer for MediaVillage in the column #AndradeSays. Having "cut the cord" back when cords were still a thing, Ainz, as he likes to be called, brings a fresh an…
