“Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.”
Maya Angelou’s quote could sum up late actor Chadwick Boseman’s life. With a Bachelor’s in directing, he graduated from the British American Drama Academy in Oxford, England. After being unable to pay the tuition to take the classes at the Academy, one of his teachers, actress Phylicia Rashad stepped in. She made a call to a friend who generously paid for the tuition of all the students who were unable to join the Midsummer program. This friend turned out to be none other than Denzel Washington. Later, in a speech honoring Washington, Boseman narrated the story to his benefactor. “Imagine receiving the letter that your tuition for that summer was paid for and that your benefactor was none other than the dopest actor on the planet,” Boseman related. “An offering from a sage and a king is more than silver and gold. It is a seed of hope, a bud of faith.”
Little did Boseman know when he gave the speech that he would give the next generation a garden of hope. After several years as a successful stage actor and director of short films, Boseman began to receive guest roles in shows like Third Watch, CSI:NY, ER, Lie to Me, and more. When he began his career in movies, Chadwick Boseman appeared in The Express as football running back Floyd Little. In 2010, he acted in the thriller Persons Unknown as Graham McNair, and in 2012, he played Lieutenant Samuel Drake in The Kill Hole.
One of Boseman’s biggest roles in the cinema industry was Jackie Robinson in the sports biopic 42. The story of the first African American baseball player to play in the majors was a huge success. Boseman himself explained how much the role meant to him.
“It's just a huge responsibility. I wake up every morning, been working and prepping on it, and I'm having the time of my life, playing baseball... studying footage. It's the opportunity of a lifetime to just do what I love.” According to Major League Baseball, Boseman’s “portrayal of Robinson's courage and perseverance in the face of unspeakable prejudice afforded the world a chance to reflect on Robinson's life and legacy in an unprecedented way.”
Chadwick Boseman went on to play James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, in the movie Get On Up. He called it a “very intense and rewarding experience” which helped him grow as an actor. Boseman starred in several such movies combating racial inequality and social disparity.
Another one of his biggest roles came when he entered the Marvel universe to take on the title of King T’Challa in Black Panther. As the first Marvel movie with an African superhero and a mostly African American cast, it broke blockbuster records as well as set a path for future heroes. When Boseman was asked about how the character T’Challa was influenced by real men who transformed the world, he replied, “I certainly wouldn’t be here if it were not for those men that I portrayed, because of what they did in their lives, and the door that it opened for me.” Black Panther hit the theatres a year after Chadwick Boseman received his diagnosis.
Boseman found out in 2016 that he had stage III colon cancer. Only a very small number of individuals close to Boseman knew about his ongoing battle. He visited St. Jude’s in 2018 after the filming of Avengers: Endgame, and only after his passing do we realize how much it meant to both him and the kids at the hospital. Rick Shadyac Jr, the President and CEO of ALSAC felt Boseman’s visit gave truth to the idea that he was a hero on screen and offscreen. "Maybe the sacrifice of time in the grand picture of life was beyond worth it in order to bring pure joy to these patients," Shadyac said. "It was time spent together that none of us will ever forget. It felt different than other visits like it. Because he was different. [Boseman] was power and grace and love, and of course filled with personal perspective."
When all is said and done, Chadwick Boseman was a hero to our generation. A man claiming the title of king on screen and in our hearts. His memory shall be cherished and his offering to the cinema world unforgotten. Wakanda forever.
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