“I wish you power that equals your intelligence and your strength. I wish you success that equals your talent and determination. And I wish you faith.”

“You don’t have to be a man to fight for freedom. All you have to do is to be an intelligent human being.”

Raised in Detroit by her foster parents, Dr. Betty Shabazz moved to Alabama to attend Tuskegee Institute. She then moved to New York, where she became a registered nurse.

In 1956, while attending various lectures given by the Nation of Islam, she met and married Malcolm X, five years later, they had four daughters. After Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam, the family adopted the Muslim surname Shabazz.

In 1965, Malcolm was gunned down while speaking at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. Betty Shabazz, then pregnant with twins, was in the audience. She was left to raise six daughters on her own.

Betty Shabazz later returned to school, eventually earning a doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts. She went to work as an administrator at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn and traveled widely, speaking on topics such as civil rights and racial tolerance.

Visit the The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center