Betty Shabazz
Betty Shabazz (born May 28, 1936 in Detroit , † June 23, 1997 in Bronx , New York City ; born Betty Jean Sanders , also known as Betty X) was an American civil rights activist. She was the wife of Malcolm X .
Betty was an adopted child who grew up in a middle-class Detroit household . After high school , she worked at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and then at the Brooklyn State Hospital School of Nursing .
After hearing a speech by Malcolm X at the Islamic Temple in New York City, she met with him and he introduced her to the issue of racism in Alabama . By the time she graduated from nursing school in 1958, she was already a member of the Nation of Islam .
Although there were no single meetings in the grouping, Malcolm asked for her hand and married her the same week. The couple had six daughters, although Malcolm always wanted male offspring: Attallah (* 1958), Qubilah (* 1960), Ilyasah (* 1963), Gamilah (* 1964) and, after his death, the twins Malaak and Malikah (* 1965) .
On February 21, 1965, pregnant with her twins, she took her four daughters to Harlem for his speech. When the first shots rang out, she knocked her children down and threw herself over them. Malcolm was murdered in front of her, at the time her eldest daughter was only six years old.
After a pilgrimage to Mecca with her children , she personally would have preferred a quiet family life, but the attack brought the large family to the media; Mother and daughters were given the opportunity to study.
After graduating, she became the director of a public relations school. Despite her involvement in the civil rights movement, she tried to maintain the privacy of the family. Throughout her life she fought legal battles against copyright infringements involving her husband's speeches, his name and the X symbol. When his story was filmed in 1992, she took on the role of a consultant. In 1994 she rose for the first time in a speech against the Nation of Islam and its leader Louis Farrakhan .
In January 1995, their daughter Qubilah was arrested for inciting Farrakhan's murder. Surprisingly, Farrakhan defended her, after which he and Betty buried their feud. In May of the same year there was a public meeting of the two in Harlem with subsequent reconciliation. Qubilah was spared prison, but she underwent two years of psychological treatment and alcohol withdrawal. One of her sons, twelve-year-old Malcolm (* October 8, 1984, † May 9, 2013) lived with Betty in New York during this time. Unhappy about the separation from his mother, he set fire to his grandmother's apartment on June 1, 1997.
Betty suffered third degree burns; 80% of their skin was burned. She died on June 23, 1997 after three weeks in intensive care. Her grandson was sentenced to 18 months in juvenile detention for manslaughter . Malcolm Shabazz died on May 9, 2013, at the age of 28 after a brawl in Mexico City .
The Dr. Betty Shabazz Health Center in Brooklyn was named after her.
Web links
- "Dr. Betty Shabazz, widow of Malcolm X, dies. " (Obituary)
- "Betty Shabazz, Malcolm Xs widow, dies at 61"
- Dr. Betty Shabazz Health Center
- Betty Shabazz in the database of Find a Grave (English)
Individual proof
- ↑ "Mexico: Grandson of US civil rights activist Malcolm X killed" , Spiegel Online , May 11, 2013.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Shabazz, Betty |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Sanders, Betty Jean; Betty X |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American widow of Malcolm X |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 28, 1936 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Detroit |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 23, 1997 |
| Place of death | Bronx , New York City |