Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center
Encyclopedia
Malcolm X
Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
and Betty Shabazz
Betty Shabazz
Betty Shabazz , born Betty Dean Sanders and also known as Betty X, was an American educator and civil rights advocate. She was the wife of Malcolm X....
located in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Its stated purpose is to carry on the work of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz "through the advancement of human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
and social justice
Social justice
Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
".
The Shabazz Center is located in the Audubon Ballroom
Audubon Ballroom
The Audubon Ballroom was a theatre and ballroom located on Broadway at 165th Street in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, north of Harlem in New York. It is best known as the site of Malcolm X's assassination on February 21, 1965....
in the Washington Heights
Washington Heights, New York
Washington Heights is a census-designated place in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 1,318 at the 2000 census.Washington heights is a contiguous suburb of City of Middletown...
neighborhood of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, where Malcolm X was assassinated. It opened on May 19, 2005, the 80th anniversary of Malcolm X's birth.
The Shabazz Center is decorated with a 63-foot (19-meter) mural depicting the life of Malcolm X and a life-size bronze statue of the human rights activist. It includes six interactive kiosk
Interactive kiosk
An Interactive kiosk is a computer terminal featuring specialized hardware and software designed within a public exhibit that provides access to information and applications for communication, commerce, entertainment, and education....
s that provide information about the lives of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz. The kiosks were developed by Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
's Digital Knowledge Ventures and Professor Manning Marable
Manning Marable
William Manning Marable was an American professor of public affairs, history and African-American Studies at Columbia University. Marable founded and directed the Institute for Research in African-American Studies. Marable authored several texts and was active in progressive political causes...
of the university's African American Studies
African American studies
African American studies is a subset of Black studies or Africana studies. It is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to the study of the history, culture, and politics of African Americans...
department. The center also is home to documents related to Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz.
Background
The Audubon Ballroom had fallen into disrepair after the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X, and by the mid-1970s it had become the property of New York City. In the early 1980s, Columbia University proposed the construction of a modern biotechnologyBiotechnology
Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
center on the site, a plan that later grew to include a research park
Research park
A Research park is a research facility that is often linked with a major research university. Throughout North America, there are more than 170 research parks. They exist to create linkages between the university, industry and the community...
. Columbia, aware of the significance of the site, sought Betty Shabazz's approval for the project. She appealed for the preservation of the ballroom where her husband had been shot.
After a decade of wrangling between the university, the city, and historic preservation
Historic preservation
Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...
organizations, the Audubon Business and Technology Center was completed. Betty Shabazz oversaw the development of the Malcolm X Educational Foundation, which she hoped would host international conferences and educate the public about human rights. Plans for the site briefly stalled after Shabazz's death in 1997, but the scope of the center was expanded and it eventually was completed.
Events
In 2008, shortly after the election of Barack ObamaBarack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, the first African-American president, al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
released a videotape that included a statement by Ayman al-Zawahiri
Ayman al-Zawahiri
Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri is an Egyptian physician, Islamic theologian and current leader of al-Qaeda. He was previously the second and last "emir" of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, having succeeded Abbud al-Zumar in the latter role when Egyptian authorities sentenced al-Zumar to life...
, who called Obama a "house Negro" and contrasted him with "honorable Black Americans" such as Malcolm X; the "house Negro" term was taken from Malcolm's speech "Message to the Grass Roots
Message to the Grass Roots
"Message to the Grass Roots" is the name of a public speech by Malcolm X at the Northern Negro Grass Roots Leadership Conference on November 10, 1963, in King Solomon Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan...
". A news conference held by American Muslim religious leaders at the Center a day afterward condemned the statement, with Imam Al-Hajj Talib 'Abdur-Rashid saying that Malcolm "stood for human rights and the principle of self defense ... international law. He would have rejected, and we who are Muslim African-Americans leaders reject, acts of political extremism."