Chadwick Boseman Honored by Howard University by Renaming College of Fine Arts

It has been a little more than a year since Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman died. Boseman was an alumnus of Howard University, a historically Black university in Washington D.C. Shortly after Boseman’s death, Howard announced plans to name its College of Fine Arts after Boseman in his honor. In September, Howard followed through, adorning the building’s entry with the letters christening it the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts. Howard shared the letters to Twitter, along with a video revealing the installation chronicling Boseman’s legacy that is found inside. You can take a look for yourself below.

Announcing the decision in May 2020, the Howard Instagram page posted images of Boseman protesting the College of Fine Arts’ closure while a student in 1997, and then returning to the university as a commencement speaker in 2018, when the university’s president announced the college’s reopening. Considering his dedication ot the college, it seemed fitting for Howard to name it after their “King”:

“Chad, you exemplify Howard’s core values of excellence, leadership, service, and truth. There is no one more deserving of such an honor. We are so proud of you, we love you, and we miss you every day. Congratulations to all the future students of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts!”

After Boseman’s death, his fellow Howard alum Ta-Nehisi Coates, who was writing Marvel’s Black Panther comic at the time, penned a tribute to the actor. Marvel published it in the pages of all of its releases that week.

“I got to watch him through the years — advancing out of student theater, on to TV and film, and then finally cast as T’Challa. He was perfect. He had T’Challa’s royal spirit, the sense that he did not represent merely himself, but a nation. And this is how I am understanding his death. It is personally sad to lose him at such a young age. But for those of us who so needed him right now, in these dark times, those of us who went to war with him, the loss is unthinkable. We simply cannot afford to be without Chad. My recourse is inadequate, but it’s all I have to make meaning of this tragedy. It is the idea of ancestry. It is the notion that when someone like Chad wields their weapons as fiercely as he once did, they are remembered. It is the idea that Chad’s wisdom and power are still with us in ancestral form. It is the thought that just as Chad once walked into the City of the Dead and harnessed the energy of those who’d gone before him, so he too may be harnessed, by all those warriors to come.”

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