In an official Instagram post, Disneyland shared an animatic spotlighting several famous black icons who left a grand legacy with The Walt Disney Company.
Celebrate Soulfully: Spotlight on Black Innovators and Artists
As part of its “Celebrate Soulfully” festivities this February, Disneyland shared a short animatic to their official Instagram post celebrating the people who inspired and helped shape many aspects of the Disney experience today.
The animatic starts with text: “Let’s meet iconic visionaries who inspired Disney stories.” The perspective on the animation then zooms out and pans across three different scenes.
Floyd Norman
Floyd Norman is a pioneering American animator and writer best known as Disney’s first black animator. He joined The Walt Disney Company in the 1950s and worked directly with Walt on projects including Sleeping Beauty and later contributed story work to The Jungle Book.
After briefly leaving during the studio’s transitional years, he worked in television and at other studios before returning to Disney in the 1970s, contributing to films such as Mulan and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Pixar films like Toy Story 2 and Monsters, Inc. The animatic features several storyboard sketches from the latter Pixar film
Over a career spanning decades, Norman became an important voice in animation history, speaking openly about the studio system, creative storytelling, and diversity in the industry.
Leah Chase
Leah Chase was a celebrated Creole chef, restaurateur, and civil rights figure based in New Orleans. As the longtime leader of Dooky Chase’s Restaurant, she transformed the establishment into both a culinary landmark and a meeting place for civil rights leaders in the 1960s.
Known as the “Queen of Creole Cooking,” as the animatic spotlights via a cookbook, Chase elevated traditional Louisiana dishes—such as gumbo, fried chicken, and shrimp Clemenceau—into refined dining experiences while preserving their cultural roots.
In creating The Princess and the Frog, Disney filmmakers turned to Chase’s real-life story as a successful black woman restaurateur in a segregated South – a story which closely parallels Tiana’s ambition to own her own restaurant.
Chase is widely acknowledged as the leading real-life inspiration behind Tiana’s entrepreneurial drive and culinary excellence. The film’s emphasis on Creole cuisine, community, and perseverance reflects themes central to Chase’s life and legacy, making her a central pillar of influence on Disney’s first black princess and New Orleans culture throughout Disney experiences.
Lanny Smoot
Lanny Smoot is an inventor and longtime Imagineer at Walt Disney Imagineering, recognized as one of the most prolific patent holders in The Walt Disney Company’s history.
With a background in electrical engineering and immersive technologies, Smoot has developed advanced interactive systems, robotics, and special effects used in Disney parks worldwide, helping redefine guest interactivity and experiential storytelling.
His work spans everything from animatronics enhancements to cutting-edge attraction technologies, and he has been widely recognized within the themed entertainment industry for pushing the boundaries of engineering in service of narrative environments. One of his latest inventions, as featured in the animatic, is the famed Holotile platform.
The original Instagram post description reads:
Get to know some of the Black innovators and artists who helped shape beloved Disney stories. Can you spot any hints as to what work they were part of? Tell us below, and discover more about these icons and others like them on the new Heritage Trail, Vanguards and Visionaries: Part of Celebrate Soulfully, now at the Disneyland Resort!
We encourage you to check out the full animatic on the Instagram post below.
Do you have any friends or family who have worked for The Walt Disney Company whom you would like to spotlight for Black History Month? We would love to hear your own stories on social media!
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