I enjoy his work, but I wasn't a HUGE fan or anything. So it hadn't really occurred to me what his career was about until you see all those roles piled up. Seems clearer to me now that he understood his career in a really full, coherent way. Not just a series of jobs or growing a relationship with fame or even just as ART, but something inspiring and liberating *for* his audience.

Or he really liked period pieces about black history. Or both.