Howard University announced it will pay the ultimate homage to one of its megawatt alumnii as the school named a college after Academy Award-nominated actor Chadwick Boseman.
The flagship HBCU institution told the media on Wednesday, May 2021, its College of Fine Arts will now be decorated with the name of the transcendent star of Black Panther and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottoms.
The announcement comes just weeks after Hollywood royalty Phylicia Rashad was named the dean of the school. Rashad is Boseman’s former mentor and professor at Howard.
Boseman’s family is honored that their family member received such a recognition that will live into perpetuity.
“Chad fought to preserve the College of Fine Arts during his matriculation at Howard and remained dedicated to the fight throughout his career, and he would be overjoyed by this development,” the family said in a statement, according to The Jasmine Brand.
“His time at Howard University helped shape both the man and the artist that he became, committed to truth, integrity and a determination to transform the world through the power of storytelling. We are confident that under the dynamic leadership of his former professor and mentor the indomitable Phylicia Rashad that the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts will inspire artistic scholars for many generations.”
Boseman graduated in 2000 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in directing. He then soared to rarified air in Tinseltown, scoring critical acclaim with consecutive performances in Marshal, 42, Get On Up, Black Panther and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottoms.
To Rashad, the admiration he had for her was mutual.
“Unrelenting in his pursuit of excellence, Chadwick was possessed with a passion for inquiry and a determination to tell stories — through acting, writing, and directing — that revealed the beauty and complexity of our human spirit.”
