Chadwick Boseman Day Date in the current year: November 29, 2024

Chadwick Boseman was born in Anderson, South Carolina on November 29, 1976. Alhough he was an accomplished basketball player who was recruited to play in college, Boseman chose the arts and graduated from Howard University in 2000 with a BFA in directing.

Boseman began his career as a theater director, playwright, stage actor and drama instructor. He first came to prominence in 2002 when he won an AUDELCO Award for his supporting role in Ron Milner’s Urban Transitions: Loose Blossoms. The next year, he landed his first television role in an episode of the crime drama Third Watch.

Boseman’s breakthrough came in 2013 with the release of the biographical sports film 42, in which he starred as the iconic basketball player Jackie Robinson. The following year, he starred in another biographical film, Get On Up, in which he played singer James Brown. His performances in both films were critically acclaimed.

In 2016, Marvel offered Boseman the role of T’Challa / Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; he did not have to audition. Boseman portrayed the character in the films Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and voiced T’Challa in four episodes of the animated series What If…?, which were released posthumously.

Boseman was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016, but kept his diagnosis private and continued to work throughout his treatment, which included surgeries and chemotherapy. He succumbed to the disease on August 28, 2020, at the age of 43. To honor his memory, Marvel did not recast T’Challa and instead had his sister, Shuri, take on the mantle of Black Panther. The 2022 film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was dedicated to Boseman’s memory.

Boseman’s final film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, was released posthumously to critical acclaim. He won several posthumous awards for his role as Levee Green, including a SAG Award and a Golden Globe Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor.

Although his life was cut short by the disease, Boseman left a profound legacy. He portrayed several African-American icons and was the first Black actor to lead a predominantly Black cast in a major blockbuster.

Since 2020 (the year of his death), Boseman’s birthday has been celebrated as Chadwick Boseman Day. Boseman’s alma mater, Howard University, has observed the anniversary of his death as Chadwick A. Boseman Day since 2022 by organizing various events and activities in honor of the late actor’s. The university also named its College of Fine Arts after Boseman.

You can observe Chadwick Boseman Day by re-watching your favorite films starring Boseman, creating an artistic tribute to the late actor, donating to a charity that focuses on colon cancer research (or any other charity whose cause you care about), and posting about the day on social media using the hashtag #ChadwickBosemanDay to spread the word.

Photo by Gage Skidmore, Creative Commons