Audubon Ballroom
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The Audubon Ballroom in New York City became famous on February 21, 1965 three gunmen rushed onstage. They pulled out their guns and shot humanitarian Malcolm X 15 times at close range. The 39-year-old was pronounced dead on arrival at New York's Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.
Forty years later, on February 21, 2005, the Audubon Ballroom announced plans to metamorphisize their historic, yet sorrow-filled building into a tributary educational center in honor of Malcolm X, to be named the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Education Center.
This new historical landmark will house various documents, such as speeches, memoirs and notes, which were rescued by Malcolm’s family. Most of these historic artifacts have been kept at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, located in Harlem, New York.
The center will also include a top-of-the-line multimedia library to foster positive academic growth and development and to pass on the lessons of Malcolm X to the future generations. Through the assistance of Malcolm’s family, various historians and decorated scholars, the center will meticulously chronicle Malcolm’s life, re-examine his legacy and highlight his turbulent battles for civil rights and equality.
Attendees of the event included dignitaries New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, Reverend Al Sharpton and Democratic U.S. Representative Charles Rangel. Three of Malcolm’s children, daughters Ilyasah, Gamilan and Malaak Shabazz, were also present. Even Malcolm’s former chief aide Benjamin Karim was present. Karim had previously vowed to never set foot again inside the Audubon Ballroom since Malcolm’s brutal murder. All that changed as Karim and numerous others seemed confident the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Education Center will enlighten new generations of Malcolm’s plight for civil rights and equality.
The Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Education Center is slated to open on what would have been Malcolm’s 80th birthday, May 19, 2005.