June 23, 1997 — Malcolm X's widow Betty Shabazz passed away today 🕊️

Born Betty Dean Sanders, she was an educator, civil rights advocate and the wife of Malcolm X.

Dr. Shabazz grew up in Detroit, Michigan, where her foster parents largely sheltered her from racism. She attended the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, where she had her first encounters with racism. Unhappy with the situation in Alabama, she moved to New York City, where she became a nurse.

It was in New York that she met Malcolm X. The couple married in 1958.

Along with her husband, Dr. Shabazz left the Nation of Islam in 1964. She witnessed his assassination the following year.

MEMORIALS:
•In late 1997, the Community Healthcare Network renamed one of its Brooklyn, New York, clinics the Dr. Betty Shabazz Health Center, in honor of Shabazz.

•The Betty Shabazz International Charter School was founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1998 and named in her honor.

•In 2005, Columbia University announced the opening of the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center. The memorial is located in the Audubon Ballroom, where Malcolm X was assassinated.

•In March 2012, New York City co-named Broadway at the corner of West 165th Street, the corner in front of the Audubon Ballroom, Betty Shabazz Way.

PORTRAYALS IN FILM:
🎬Yolanda King, the daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Coretta Scott King, played Dr. Shabazz in the 1981 television movie Death of a Prophet.

🎬She was portrayed by Angela Bassett in the 1992 film Malcolm X.

🎬Bassett also played the part of Dr. Shabazz in the 1995 film Panther.

🎬Dr. Shabazz was portrayed by Victoria Dillard in the 2001 film Ali.

🎬Dr. Shabazz was the subject of the 2013 television movie Betty and Coretta, in which she was played by Mary J. Blige