“Purpose crosses disciplines. Purpose is an essential element of you. It is the reason you are on the planet at this particular time in history.” — Chadwick Boseman
Boseman returned to Howard University on May 12, 2018, with advice for graduates weighing their next jobs. The Black Panther actor used the university’s 150th commencement in Washington, D.C., to explain how challenging a stereotyped role had shaped his career. He was 41, receiving an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters and privately living with colon cancer.
Born November 29, 1976, in Anderson, South Carolina, he was the youngest of 3 sons. His mother, Carolyn, was a nurse; his father, Leroy, worked for an agricultural company and did upholstery. Boseman went to Howard to study directing.
In 1998, his mentor, actress Phylicia Rashad, enlisted friends to help fund his studies at Oxford’s drama academy. Denzel Washington helped pay. Boseman graduated from Howard in 2000 with a bachelor of fine arts.
In 2003, at 26, he played Reggie Montgomery on All My Children. After he questioned the character’s stereotypes, he was fired. Michael B. Jordan, then 16, took over the role.
Boseman later portrayed Jackie Robinson, James Brown and Thurgood Marshall before playing T’Challa. Black Panther opened nationwide on February 16, 2018, less than 3 months before his Howard address.
At commencement, he told graduates that Howard had prepared him for those roles. Recalling his dismissal from the soap opera, he described himself in the speech as “a writer, director anyway” and said challenging stereotypes had opened “the path to my destiny.”
He also praised a 9-day student protest over housing and campus policing. More than 8,000 family members and friends attended the ceremony.
His closing advice about purpose grew out of those experiences. That line about why each person is here, said while he was quietly fighting an illness almost no one knew about, is why those words have stayed with people.
His family later disclosed that he’d been diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016 and that it had progressed to stage IV. Boseman died on August 28, 2020, at 43, with his wife beside him. The speech circulated again after his death.
Howard named its College of Fine Arts for him on May 26, 2021. November 29, 2026, would’ve been his 50th birthday.