Betty Shabazz (born Betty Dean Sanders, May 28, 1934/1936 – June 23, 1997), also known as Betty X, was an American educator and civil rights advocate. She was married to Malcolm X.
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How did Betty Shabazz pass away?
On June 1, 1997, her 12-year-old grandson Malcolm set a fire in Shabazz’s apartment. Shabazz suffered burns on over 80 percent of her body, and remained in intensive care for three weeks, at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, New York.
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She underwent five skin-replacement operations as doctors struggled to replace damaged skin and save her life. Shabazz died of her injuries on June 23, 1997. Malcolm Shabazz was sentenced to 18 months in juvenile detention for manslaughter and arson.
More than 2,000 mourners attended a memorial service for Shabazz, at New York’s Riverside Church. Shabazz’s funeral service was held at the Islamic Cultural Center in New York City.
Her public viewing was at the Unity Funeral Home in Harlem, the same place where Malcolm X’s viewing had taken place 32 years earlier. Shabazz was buried next to her husband, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X), at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York
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