December 1, 2025
To his brothers Derek and Kevin Boseman, the Walk of Fame honor calls forward something deeper than his film career.
Chadwick Boseman’s newly unveiled star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame sets his place in entertainment history in stone, literally. Famous coworkers and friends including Michael B. Jordan, and Ryan and Zinzi Coogler, showed up to give personal testimony on a short life well-lived. Among the high-profile attendees were his family members, people who knew more than just the public face of the man.
To his brothers. Derek and Kevin Boseman, the Walk of Fame honor called forward something deeper than his film career. It pulled them back to who he was before the world knew him. While the Boseman family has remained private in the five years since his passing, his brothers spoke with BLACK ENTERPRISE about their personal interactions, upbringing, and how they plan to keep Boseman’s legacy alive.
When what stands out most when they reflect on Chadwick as a man, not a movie star, Derek did not hesitate. “He left movies. That’s for the public,” he said. “His memory would be his character, the way he handled people with kindness. He always honored our parents. He was a mama’s boy.”
The brothers agree that fame never altered his spirit. “Even though he was famous, he didn’t act like it at all. He acted like a normal dude and he wanted to be treated as such,” Derek said. “He remained the exact same person from the time he was a kid until the day that he died. He never acted like he was above anybody else.”
Kevin echoed that foundation, crediting the way they were raised. “It all really began at home. It began with respect for our elders,” he said. “We come from really humble beginnings, not poverty, but definitely not wealth. My father was a factory worker. My mother was a nurse.” The values that shaped their family, he said, were rooted in responsibility, faith, and belief in one’s calling.
“We were taught to carry ourselves knowing that we could become anything we wanted to be because it was in us,” he told BE.
Both brothers described Chadwick as someone who was disciplined and engaged on an ever-evolving journey of discovery. The discipline extended to how Chadwick studied and built characters. Kevin described him as a lifelong student.
“He always carried a notebook. He was always taking notes,” he said. “He was always in process. That was the kind of artist that he was.”
Kevin added that every conversation led him to a new discovery. “I would walk away going, ‘Okay, I have to look up like two words in this conversation,’” he said. “He was incredibly brilliant and dedicated to continual study. He never arrived.”
Since his passing, the Boseman family has guarded their privacy while continuing to honor his memory in intentional ways. They plan to further that commitment by launching the Chadwick Boseman Family Foundation. The concept behind the foundation includes more than supporting those seeking formal education. It will extend support for childcare, education, wellness, literacy, and financial literacy.
Kevin said the family will continue showing up publicly to preserve Chadwick’s influence while creating space for the next generation.
“We will continue to celebrate his work, his artistry, his craft,” he said. “It will be interesting to see in his absence what young artists create. ‘Look at all of the things that this person accomplished. What stories do I have to tell?’”
What the world saw on screen, his brothers said, is inseparable from the person they knew. “People saw themselves in him,” Kevin said. “That’s why he was so important.”
Both Derrick and Kevin are continuing their work promoting the legacy of Chadwick. Deep Azure, a play written by the late actor, will open in London February 2026. Additionally, Derrick is working on an upcoming book which includes life lessons and conversations between himself and his kin. On Nov. 17, Kevin premiered the Dark Mondays With Kevin Boseman podcast, examining theater through a “social, cultural and political lense.”
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