Shabazz, Betty

Betty Shabazz (1934–1997, age 63). An educator and civil rights advocate, best known as the wife of Malcolm X (m. 1958–1965). After his assassination, she earned a doctoral degree and worked as a professor at Medgar Evers College. Shabazz was a prominent figure in the fight for racial equality and women’s rights.

Betty Shabazz died tragically in a house fire set by her grandson Malcolm Shabazz. During the early 1990s, Malcolm often stayed with his grandmother Betty and his aunts in New York, while his mother Qubilah lived with various friends. On June 1, 1997, Malcolm, then twelve years of age, started a fire in her apartment. She suffered burns over 80 percent of her body.

The police found young Malcolm wandering the streets, barefoot and reeking of gasoline. Betty Shabazz died of her injuries on June 23, 1997. At a hearing, experts described her grandson Malcolm as psychotic and schizophrenic. He was also described as “brilliant but disturbed.”

Betty 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.

Betty Shabazz had six daughters, in order, Attallah Shabazz (b.1958), Qubilah Shabazz (b. 1960), Ilyasah Shabazz (b.1962), Gamilah Lumumba Shabazz (b.1964), then twins Malaak Shabazz (b.1965) and Malikah Shabazz (b.1965). Attallah was named after Attila the Hun, Qubilah was named after Kublai Khan, Ilyasah was named after Elijah Muhammad; Gamilah Lumumba was named after Patrice Lumumba; and the twins, Malikah and Malaak, born in 1965 after their father’s assassination and named for him.

Ilyasah, have carried on

Malikah, Qubilah have struggled or passed on.

Betty Shabazz died from injuries sustained in her house fire, in Jacobi Hospital, New York City.

The Shabazz daughters are of African American, African Grenadian, English, and Scottish descent.