Attallah Shabazz
| Attallah Shabazz | |
|---|---|
| Born |
November 16, 1958 Queens, New York City, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | United Nations International School |
| Alma mater | Briarcliff College |
| Parents |
|
Attallah Shabazz (born November 16, 1958) is the eldest daughter of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz. She is an actress, author, ambassador, and motivational speaker.
Shabazz was born in Queens, New York, on November 16, 1958. According to many sources, she was named after Attila, the fifth-century ruler of the Huns, one of the most feared enemies of the Roman Empire; her father and Alex Haley, her godfather, wrote that in The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Shabazz has said she was not named after Attila, rather her name is Arabic for "the gift of God".
In February 1965, her sister Qubilah woke the family in the middle of the night with her screams; the house was on fire. Shabazz recalled that night in a 1989 interview: "I almost didn't realize how dangerous it was—my father was that calm, that together a parent. My eyes were burning, I was coughing, but before you knew it, he had us all out of there, and we were safe at a friend's house. My mother's like that too. Together."
A week later, Shabazz was at Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom, with her mother and sisters, when her father was assassinated. She was six at the time and reportedly the only one of his children who has clear memories of him. In 2005, she told journalist Gabe Pressman that she remembered the events of that day "vividly":
It was a Sunday morning and we were at the Wallaces, this is Aunt Ruby's [Ruby Dee's] brother's house, and my father called and said to my mother, "Why don't you come down?," and that was out of sorts, and I knew it, but at the same time excited. And so two of my little sisters—I had three little sisters at that time—but the baby was six months, and my two sisters after me, we all got ready to go down....
My mother was pregnant with my baby sisters, the twins. We thought it was a boy at the time, so we referred to her stomach as Malik, and six months later they were born. But I remember the day, and it changed everything.
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