African American Muslim minister and civil rights activist Malcolm X was shot dead 48 years ago today.
The 39-year-old was gunned down in front of a crowd of hundreds – including several of his own children – as he began a speech at Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom on February 21, 1965.
Malcolm X, who once called for a “blacks only” state in America, was a nationalist for the Nation of Islam until a trip to Mecca changed his views on race and religion.
Malcolm X was gunned down on February 21, 1965
He broke away from the group in 1963 to set up his own organisation, embracing orthodox Islam and changing his name to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz.
The Organisation of Afro-American Unity was, he stated, for “Negro intellectuals who favoured racial separation but could not accept the Muslim religion.”
He was assassinated by a squad of men associated with the Nation of Islam, although only one man – Thomas Hagan – admitted his role in the attack.
Detractors claim Malcolm X preached racism (he once referred to whites as “blue-eyed devils”) and incited black supremacy and violence.
Yet he is also remembered as one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history.
Malcolm X’s home was firebombed a week before his death and just two days before the fatal assassination he gave a prescient interview to The New York Times.
His wife Betty Shabazz was pregnant with twins at the time of her husband’s assassination.
She covered her daughters on the floor in an effort to shield them from the bullets.
She went on to raise her six daughters alone, and died on June 23, 1997, after suffering severe burns when her grandson set her Yonkers home on fire.
For more on the life and legacy of Malcolm X, visit the official website.