Over a year after the tragic passing of Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, Netflix and Howard University have established a scholarship to honour the late actor. Having also starred in Avengers: Endgame, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and 42, Boseman died in August 2020 following a four-year battle with colon cancer.
The Chadwick A. Boseman Memorial Scholarship will start from autumn 2021 and will provide incoming students to the College of Fine Arts with a four-year scholarship to cover all university tuition fees. Amounting to $5.4 million in total, the scholarship was created alongside Boseman’s wife, Simone Ledward-Boseman with sponsorship from the streaming site Netflix.
This news follows further reports from earlier in 2021 that the College of Fine Arts would be renaming itself to honour the late actor. As released by Deadline, Howard University President Wayne A.I. Frederick, M.D commented, “It is with immense pleasure and deep gratitude that we announce the creation of an endowed scholarship in honour of alumnus, Chadwick Boseman, whose life and contributions to the arts continues to inspire”.
Continuing, Frederick added, “This scholarship embodies Chadwick’s love for Howard, his passion for storytelling, and his willingness to support future generations of Howard students”.
Whilst Chadwick Boseman is being honoured by his previous college, his lack of presence on the set of Marvel’s upcoming Black Panther 2 has been felt by cast members. Speaking to The Guardian, co-star Angela Bassett stated, “Everyone felt, the first week of shooting, the presence of Chadwick and missing him on that throne…But we all came together and just paid homage to him before we began, which was wonderful … everyone just speaking beautiful words about him and expressing how much we care and how he informed and inspired us”.
Take a look at the trailer for Disney’s What If… below that sees Chadwick Boseman in his final acting role.
