Betty Shabazz
The Widow Of Malcolm X, Dr. Betty Shabazz, Died On This Date In 1997, At The Age Of 61.
Dr. Shabazz Was Trapped In A Fire Set By Her 12 Year-Old Grandson, Malcolm Shabazz, In Their Apartment In Yonkers, New York. Shabazz Died Three Weeks Later, From 3rd Degree Burns Covering 95% Of Her Body.
Shabazz Was Born Betty Jean Sanders On May 28, 1936 In Detroit, Michigan. She Was An Adopted Child Who Grew Up In A Fairly Sheltered, Middle-Class Household. She Attended Tuskegee Institute In Alabama.
She Left Tuskegee And Moved To New York City To Escape Southern Racism, And Enrolled As A Nursing Student At The Brooklyn State Hospital School of Nursing. It Was In New York That She Would First Encounter Future Husband, Malcolm X.
In 1958, After She Had Completed Nursing School, Malcolm, Who Was Traveling The Country At The Time, Called Her From Detroit And Proposed Marriage. Before The Week Was Out, Betty, 22 And Malcolm, 33, Were Married.
Betty Shabazz Was Catapulted Into The American Consciousness And The Media Spotlight Following Her Husband's Assassination In 1965.
During The Years Following Malcolm's Murder, Shabazz Managed To Rear Their Four Daughters And Advance Her Own Educaton. Between 1970 And 1975, She Completed A Master's Degree In Public Health Administration And Received A Doctorate In Education From The University Of Massachusetts At Amherst.
In 1976, She Joined The Faculty Of Medgar Evers College In Brooklyn As Associate Professor Of Health Administration. Shortly Thereafter, She Became Director Of The School's Department Of Communications And Public Relations.
"In Order For Black History To Live, We Must Continue To Breathe Life Into It." -- Hubert Gaddy, Jr.
