Howard University is cementing Chadwick Boseman‘s legacy into its campus — putting his name on a college, and securing some financial backing from a Disney bigwig.
HU announced Wednesday that its College of Fine Arts would be named after Chadwick, who graduated from Howard in 2000, and had deep ties to the higher-ed facility and the college that will now bear his name.
According to Howard, Chadwick was one of a few people back then leading the charge to keep the College of Fine Arts from being folded into the larger College of Arts & Sciences … literally hitting the ground with protests and other activism to preserve the COFA’s integrity.
Turns out, his efforts worked … because not only was the College of Fine Arts left alone as a stand-alone school, but it’s now going to be juiced up big time in light of the renaming.
Disney Chairman Bob Iger is heading up a fundraiser that seeks to help pay for a new state-of-the-art facility for the Chadwick Boseman College of Fine Arts — which will house an endowment in Chadwick’s honor, plus a lot of other helpful resources for those looking to get into entertainment and/or broadcasting … including serving as the HQ for Howard’s radio and TV stations.
Chadwick had been back to visit Howard a few different times over the years after graduating, and he was even delivered the commencement speech in 2018.
His rich ties to the campus are exactly why fellow alumnus Ta-Nehisi Coates called the college bestowment “perfect” … which his family said CB would be “overjoyed” with.
His widow, Simone Ledward-Boseman, also said, “Chad was a very proud Bison — both Howard and Ms. Rashad played integral roles in his journey as an artist. The re-establishment 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.”
BTW — Chadwick’s former mentor of the school, Phylicia Rashad, was just named Dean of the Fine Arts College Chadwick helped save all those years ago. Cool story all around.