38 Facts About Betty Shabazz

Betty Shabazz attended the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, where she had her first encounters with racism.

Betty Shabazz Dean Sanders was born on May 28,1934 or 1936, to Ollie Mae Sanders and Shelman Sandlin.

When Betty Shabazz was about 11 years old, she was taken in by Lorenzo and Helen Malloy, a prominent businessman and his wife.

Betty Shabazz was a member of the National Council of Negro Women and the NAACP.

Betty Shabazz intended to earn a degree in education and become a teacher.

Betty Shabazz later recalled that Malloy was trying to mumble something, but the words would not come out.

Betty Shabazz was trying to tell me in ten words or less about racism.

Betty Shabazz decided to change her field of study from education to nursing.

Betty Shabazz was tall, he was thin, and the way he was galloping it looked as though he was going someplace much more important than the podium.

Betty Shabazz spoke to her about the condition of African Americans and the causes of racism.

Betty Shabazz always sought her out afterwards, and he would ask her a lot of questions.

Betty Shabazz felt he was selfless when it came to helping others, but he had no one to lean on when he needed help.

Betty Shabazz began to pressure her to join the Nation of Islam.

Betty Shabazz was in the audience near the stage with her daughters.

Betty Shabazz suffered from nightmares in which she relived the death of her husband.

Betty Shabazz realized that giving up because of her husband's death would not help the world.

In late March 1965, Betty Shabazz made the pilgrimage to Mecca, as her husband had the year before.

Betty Shabazz returned from Mecca with a new name that a fellow pilgrim had bestowed upon her, Bahiyah.

When her daughters were enrolled in day care, Betty Shabazz became an active member of the day care center's parents organization, where she became very fond of the organization and where she would later start a campaign to run the organization.

Betty Shabazz began to accept speaking engagements at colleges and universities.

Betty Shabazz felt that some of the images of her husband projected by the media were misrepresentations.

In late 1969, Betty Shabazz enrolled at Jersey City State College to complete the degree in education she left behind when she became a nurse.

Betty Shabazz completed her undergraduate studies in one year, and decided to earn a master's degree in health administration.

In 1972, Betty Shabazz enrolled at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to pursue an Ed.

Betty Shabazz joined the New York Alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta in April 1974.

In January 1976, Betty Shabazz became associate professor of health sciences with a concentration in nursing at New York's Medgar Evers College.

In 1984, Betty Shabazz was given a new title, Director of Institutional Advancement and Public Affairs; she held that position at the college until her death.

Betty Shabazz served on an advisory committee on family planning for the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Betty Shabazz became active in the NAACP and the National Urban League and was a member of The Links.

When Nelson and Winnie Mandela visited Harlem during 1990, Betty Shabazz was asked to introduce Winnie Mandela.

Betty Shabazz befriended Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of Medgar Evers, and Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King Jr.

Evers-Williams and King were frequent guests at Medgar Evers College, and Betty Shabazz occasionally visited the King Center in Atlanta.

In January 1995, Qubilah Betty Shabazz was charged with trying to hire a hit man to kill Farrakhan in retaliation for the murder of her father.

Some heralded the evening as a reconciliation between the two, but others thought Betty Shabazz was doing whatever she had to in order to protect her daughter.

Betty Shabazz suffered burns over 80 percent of her body, and remained in intensive care for three weeks, at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, New York.

Betty Shabazz underwent five skin-replacement operations as doctors struggled to replace damaged skin and save her life.

Malcolm Betty Shabazz was sentenced to 18 months in juvenile detention for manslaughter and arson.

Betty Shabazz was buried next to her husband, El-Hajj Malik El-Betty Shabazz, at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.