Today we honor the life of Betty Sanders Shabazz, who sought equality through education.
Born Betty Dean Sanders in 1936 in Detroit, Michigan, Betty may be most recognized as the wife of slain civil rights hero Malcolm X. Yet it’s her steady perseverance and quiet strength as an American educator and civil rights activist for which she is most remembered.
After graduating high school, Betty left Detroit to attend Tuskegee Institute in Alabama where she studied elementary education and experienced racism for the first time in her life. After two years of study, she moved to New York City and became a registered nurse.
In 1956, Betty attended a Nation of Islam lecture in Harlem where she met Malcolm X. She joined the group and married him two years later. They welcomed four daughters and found orthodox Islam in 1964. While pregnant with twins, Betty witnessed the assassination of her husband in 1965.Widowed with six daughters, Betty focused on raising her children and continuing her education, earning a Ph.D. in education administration from the University of Massachusetts in 1975. In 1976, she became a professor at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, N.Y., and later served as the director of its department of communications and public relations. As an educator, Betty instilled in her students values of civil rights and racial tolerance, empowering them to stand for justice and persevere against prejudice. Her work inspires us today as we seek to promote justice, defend civil rights and enhance mutual understanding.