In Memoriam: How Chadwick Boseman and King T’Challa Strengthened the Black Lives Matter Movement

I saw Chadwick Boseman play Black Panther in the 2018 Marvel movie in theaters twice and both times it was money very well spent. The first time, I went with a large group of friends on opening day and we dressed up in assorted African prints. I wore a two piece dress and headwrap I had made specifically for the occasion. The women amongst us wrapped our heads in scarves and did our makeup to look like Letitia Wright’s in her role as Princess Shuri with white dots surrounding our eyes before we entered the theater. We weren’t alone. Other Black people in the theater and around the world were doing the same. The movie’s premiere was met with a tangible and deserving sense of celebration.

We gave each other the Wakanda symbol repeatedly with our hands crossed across our chests and shared the emoji that sort of resembles it countless times in our group chat. We did this for months, even after the great Black Panther himself had grown weary of the gesture during the publicity run of the film. It meant so much to us.

After the screening, we went for dinner nearby where we talked incessantly about the movie. As we thoughtfully dissected as much of the film as we could digest on first viewing, we were loud and boisterous and ecstatic, almost daring anyone who…