Bryant and his daughter Gianna were among nine people killed in a helicopter crash in the city of Calabasas, California on Sunday.
As soon as the deaths were confirmed, social media exploded in grief with fans across the globe sending their condolences and tributes to the late sporting hero.
US President Donald Trump was among the first to take to Twitter to express his shock.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) also paid tribute to the late Kobe Bryant and revealed how the star had went out of his way to fight slavery before his untimely death.
Through its social media, the museum disclosed that the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation had donated between $1 million and $2 million to the building of the institution in order to document the passage of Africans from homes in Africa to slavery in US.
Kobe Bryant is also listed as one of the founding donors on the museum's website.
“I will tell you what moved me more than anything else is my memory of Kobe coming to all the opening events around the museum and the fact that he was so generous with his time," said Lonnie Bunch, Secretary of the Smithsonian Instutition. "He would stop and talk to people, he would let everybody take pictures with him. He never let them forget they were there to celebrate the museum.”
After the museum opened in 2016, Bryant said, “Go see this museum. There is no greater testament to this country than the stories in this building. Honored to be part of it.”
Some Bryant memorabilia is on display at the museum, including a uniform and a 2002 photo of him. The uniform was donated by Bryant himself.
“As an African American, as you are going through the museum, there is a heaviness that you feel - it ties to your emotion, and then you hear the news of somebody like Kobe Bryant," said Shaanon Maney, who was at the museum on Sunday, WJLA reported.
“His daughter Gigi was following in his footsteps... to see something like that, I mean, it’s just heartbreaking.”
