Honoring Malcolm X on 50th Anniversary of Death

Fifty years ago, civil rights leader Malcolm X was assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom across the street from what was then Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. Last week, a few days after the Feb. 21 anniversary, approximately 300 people gathered at the site to commemorate the leader. Elected officials and one of Malcolm X’s daughters, Ilyash Shabazz, delivered remarks.

Members of the CUMC community, including Dean Lee Goldman, were in attendance.

On campus, the College of Physicians and Surgeons has its own memorial to the leader, the Malcolm X Medical Scholarship. This scholarship, created in 1984 with the help of Malcolm X’s widow, the late Betty Shabazz, EdD, is awarded each year to one or two P&S minority students who show academic merit and who are interested in addressing medical and public health problems prevalent in African American and underserved communities.

Carol Brown (P&S '86), the inaugural Malcolm X Memorial Scholar, with Betty Shabazz in 1995.

Carol Brown (P&S '86), the inaugural Malcolm X Memorial Scholar, with Betty Shabazz in 1995. Shabazz died June 23, 1997

Past Malcolm X scholars are now physicians practicing in fields as diverse as anesthesiology and pediatrics, and they can be found in hospitals and clinics from San Francisco to Washington, D.C.

Columbia University Medical Center honors Malcolm X’s memory, and is proud that the alumni of the scholarship named for him pay living tribute to his work.