4 real-life black figures that you might recognize in 'Black Panther'
Mic asked Howard University’s Greg Carr to help identify people in African and American history that strike similarities to the characters in Black Panther.
Nyerere was the first president of post-colonial Tanzania. He advocated for “familyhood” and believed that Africans could be independent of the West.
T'Challa
Similarly, T’Challa, the film’s main character, is dedicated to maintaining the self-reliance and heritage of Wakanda, the movie’s fictional nation.
Marvel Studios/IMDb
Marian Croak
Croak is a telecommunications titan. She led a team of 2,000 developers and engineers at AT&T and holds over 100 patents in communications technology.
WITI/YouTube
Shuri
Shuri is T’Challa’s sister and a tech wiz. She engineers everything from Wakanda’s weapons to advanced communication machinery.
Idi Amin
Amin is remembered as a violent dictator. In 1971, he led a bloody coup in Uganda before fighting a war against Tanzania and his rival, Nyerere.
Erik Killmonger
Killmonger is T’Challa’s archnemesis. In the film, he tries to take over Wakanda and ends up killing his own people.
Baker was a celebrated performer in the early 1900s and also worked as a spy for the French during World War II. Later in life she advocated for civil rights.