Southwood’s Chadwick Boseman Arts Center Dedication March 28

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

Anderson’s most celebrated actor will be honored March 28 at 10 a.m. at the official dedication of the Chadwick Boseman Fine Arts Center at School Dist. 5’s Southwood Academy for the Arts.

The school board approved the move last March, but it has taken time to prepare for the renaming of the school’s performing arts center, which will include a special sculpture with a bust of Bosman. The bust, at the recommendation of the family, was created from a photo of Chadwick at Howard University when that school honored him by reestablishing the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts in his honor.

The Anderson native who died of colon cancer in 2020 at age 43, attended McCants Middle School and T.L. Hanna High School (where he graduated in 1995).

"We are elated to do this in recognition of the accomplishments of Mr. Chadwick

Boseman," long-time member of the school district's board of trustees Harold Kay told the Anderson Observer at the time of the original announcement. "We want to do this to honor him, and to let the family know we have not forgotten the sacrifices that he made."

Howard University, Boseman's alma mater, and T.L. Hanna has already started scholarships to honor Boseman's memory.

Known for his lead role in the 2018 movie "Black Panther," Boseman also built a substantial career starring in biopics of such notable figures as Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall and James Brown. He is the first African-American actor to be nominated posthumously for his final role in "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom."