Howard University announced Wednesday that it will rename its fine arts college after late actor and alumnus Chadwick Boseman.
The historically black university will honor the Black Panther star, who died of colon cancer in August, by reestablishing the college as the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts and will construct a new facility to house it.
As a student, Boseman led a protest against the university’s decision to absorb the College of Fine Arts into the College of Arts & Sciences, according to a university news release announcing the college’s renaming. The university announced in 2018 that it planned to reestablish the College of Fine Arts.
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“Chadwick’s love for Howard University was sincere, and although he did not live to see those plans through to fruition, it is my honor to ensure his legacy lives on through the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts with the support of his wife and the Chadwick Boseman Foundation,” Howard University President Wayne A. I. Frederick said in the news release.
Frederick also announced that Bob Iger, the Walt Disney Company’s executive chairman, will lead the fundraising effort to build the new facility. Walt Disney Pictures distributed Black Panther, a superhero movie focused on a Marvel Comics character that came out on Feb. 16, 2018, and grossed more than $1.3 billion worldwide.
Boseman was “an extraordinarily gifted, charismatic and kind-hearted person whose incredible talent and generous spirit were clearly reflected in his iconic performances,” Iger said in a statement.
“Chad was a very proud [Howard] Bison,” Boseman’s widow, Simone Ledward-Boseman, said in the university’s announcement.
“The reestablishment of the College of Fine Arts brings this part of his story full-circle and ensures that his legacy will continue to inspire young storytellers for years to come,” she added.
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Boseman graduated from Howard in 2000 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in directing. He received posthumous Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor, and the Screen Actor’s Guild posthumously gave him the Outstanding Performance by Male Actor in a Leading Role award for his role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, his final film.
