One Anti-Racist Action You Can Take Today: Appreciate a Cultural Icon
By Guimel DeCarvalho
Director of People and Culture, Chief Diversity Officer
Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, James Brown, and the Marvel character T’Challa in the Black Panther.
Chadwick Boseman made a career of playing iconic Black characters. His death at 43 is a shock to many. His role choices were like a how-to manual for representation matters. Black Panther was a movie like no other because it was the first time the world got to see a Black superhero movie and a world that celebrated Black excellence.
Read the below articles to learn more about the impact Chadwick Boseman has had on the world and watch one of his movies to appreciate a cultural icon.
How Chadwick Boseman Became An Icon of Black Identity
“Colonization and slavery enslaves everybody; it doesn’t just enslave the African. It enslaves — everybody is bound by the limitations of those systems,” Boseman said in a 2018 interview on ABC’s The View. “Because [the people of Wakanda] are not up under that, they’re OK with an idea of seeing male and female on the same level. Like, my sister can challenge for the throne.”
Boseman’s contribution to cinema was never about himself and what he could offer. He wanted to see the larger, collective good brought to an art form he loved deeply.
