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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 2020)
September 2, 2020 Page 5 B ack to S chool Arts & ENTERTAINMENT ‘Black Panther’ Boseman Dead at 43 rades-in-arms in Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods.” Expressions of shock and de- spair poured in late Friday from fellow actors, athletes, musicians, Hollywood titans, fans and politi- cians. Actor Chadwick Boseman poses for a portrait in 2014. Boseman, who played Black icons Jackie Robinson and James Brown before finding fame as the regal Black Panther in the Marvel cinematic universe, has died of cancer. He was 43. (AP photo) Expressions of shock, despair reverberate (AP) — First Chadwick Bose- man slipped on the cleats of Jack- ie Robinson, then the Godfather of Soul’s dancing shoes, portraying both Black American icons with a searing intensity that commanded respect. When the former play- wright suited up as Black Panther, he brought cool intellectual gravi- tas to the Marvel superhero whose “Wakanda forever!” salute rever- berated wirldwide. As his Hollywood career boomed, though, Boseman was privately undergoing “countless surgeries and chemotherapy” to battle colon cancer, his family said in a statement announcing his death at age 43 on Friday. He’d been diagnosed at stage 3 in 2016 but never spoke publicly about it. The cancer was there when his character T’Challa visited the an- cestors’ “astral plane” in poignant scenes from the Oscar-nominated “Black Panther,” there when he first became a producer on the action thriller “21 Bridges,” and there last summer when he shot an adaptation of a play by his hero August Wilson. It was there when he played a radical Black leader — seen only in flashbacks and visions — whose death is mourned by Vietnam War com- Identifying species of trees is part of the learning for students at the Oregon Garden in Silverton, east of Salem. Homeschool Month at Oregon Garden As many families transition to cation topics like fire safety and homeschool during COVID-19, prevention, forest habitats and students are welcome to get out wildlife. to the Oregon Garden, an 80-acre Located near Silverton, east botanical sanctuary, and learn c ontinued on P age 10 about gardening and other edu- “A true fighter, Chadwick per- severed through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much,” his family said. Born and raised in South Car- olina, where he played Little League baseball and AAU bas- ketball, Boseman graduated from Howard University in Washing- ton, D.C. He wrote plays, acted and directed in theater and had small roles in television before landing his breakthrough role.