How Do We Grieve When We Can’t Gather?

The limitations—and benefits—of mourning in solitude.

We’d just finished watching a documentary when Billy grabbed his phone. “Oh no,” he said, his brow furrowed as he stared at the screen. “I hope this isn’t true.” It was. Chadwick Boseman, best known for his role as King T’Challa in Marvel’s Black Panther, died on Friday at 43, losing a four-year battle with colon cancer. For countless people, Boseman’s death felt like yet another blow in a year that had already taken far too much. His death is acutely painful because of what Boseman represented—on screen and in real life. He portrayed several Black historical figures. He visited children…

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