Malcolm X's wife, the late Dr. Betty Shabazz. Born Betty Dean Sanders, she was an educator, civil rights advocate and the wife of Malcolm X. Growing up in Detroit, her foster parents largely sheltered her from racism. She attended the Tuskegee institute in Alabama where she had her first encounters with racism head-on. Unhappy with the situation in Alabama, she relocated to New York City where she became a nurse. It was there that she met Malcolm X and in 1956 joined the Nation of Islam. The couple were married two years later in 1958. Along with her husband, Shabazz left the Nation of Islam in 1964. She witnessed his assassination the following year. Left with the responsibility of raising six daughters is a widow, Shabazz pursued higher education and went to work at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, New York. By 1980, Shabazz was overseeing the Health Sciences Department and the college president decided she could be more effective in a purely administrative position then she was in the classroom. She was promoted to Director of Institutional Advancement. In her new position, she became a booster and fundraiser for the college. A year later she was given tenure. By 1984, Shabazz was given a new title, Director of Institutional Advancement in Public Affairs, a position she held until her death. Shabazz befriended Coretta Scott King, the widow of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior and Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of Medgar Evers. The three women shared the common experience of losing their activist husbands at a young age and having to raise their children as single mothers. The press came to refer to the trio as the “Movement Widows“. 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. 🖊️As the only admin behind this page, I try to research to educate. If you appreciate this effort, you can support to help the page thrive on ko-fi.com/africanarchives. Your support is deeply appreciated! Or just follow the page for articles.