Photos: On this day – February 21, 1965 – Malcolm X is assassinated

Posted Feb 21, 2013

On this day – February 21, 1965 – Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City by members of the Nation of Islam.

Malcolm X has been described as one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history. He is credited with raising the self-esteem of black Americans and reconnecting them with their African heritage.

On February 21, 1965, as he prepared to address the Organization of Afro-American Unity in Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom, a disturbance broke out in the 400-person audience. A man seated in the front row rushed forward and shot him once in the chest with a double-barreled sawed-off shotgun.Two other men charged the stage and fired semi-automatic handguns, hitting Malcolm X several times. He was pronounced dead at 3:30 pm, shortly after he arrived at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. According to the autopsy report, Malcolm X’s body had 21 gunshot wounds to his chest, left shoulder, and arms and legs; ten of the wounds were buckshot to his left chest and shoulder from the initial shotgun blast.

Martin Luther King, Jr. in a telegram to Betty Shabazz, Malcolm X’s widow, said, “I always had a deep affection for Malcolm and felt that he had a great ability to put his finger on the existence and root of the problem. He was an eloquent spokesman for his point of view and no one can honestly doubt that Malcolm had a great concern for the problems that we face as a race.” (AP, Wikipedia)

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Black Muslim leader Malcolm X is shown at London Airport, Feb. 9, 1965, after he was barred from entering France. (AP Photo/Victor Boynton)
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This is an exterior view of the Audubon Ballroom on 166th Street at Broadway in the Harlem section of Manhattan, where black Muslim leader Malcolm X was assassinated as he addressed a rally on Feb. 21, 1965. (AP Photo)
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The Audubon Ballroom stage on which Malcolm X was attacked. Circles on the mural mark bullet holes.
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This is the Audubon ballroom in upper Harlem, New York, after it was roped off by police following the assassination of Malcolm X, February 21, 1965. The civil rights leader was standing at the podium on stage in the background. (AP Photo/Al Burleigh)
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This is the Audubon Ballroom in upper Harlem, New York, after it was roped off by police following the assassination of Malcolm X, February 21, 1965. The Muslim leader was standing at the podium on stage in the background addressing a rally when the fatal bullets felled him. (AP Photo/Al Burleigh)
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Police Sgt. Alvin Aronoff, left, grips hands of 22-Year-Old Thomas Hagan in the emergency room of Jewish hospital, Feb. 21, 1965, New York. Hagan was wounded at Audubon ballroom where Malcolm X was assassinated earlier in the day. Police, who took Hagan in custody, said he had a pistol with four unused bullets. Men on the right are unidentified. (AP Photo)
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Thomas Hagan, 22, is carried in police custody from Jewish Memorial Hospital en route to Bellevue Hospital in New York, Feb. 21, 1965. Hagan was wounded earlier in the day at a Harlem rally where black nationalist leader Malcolm X was assassinated. Police said Hagan found carrying a pistol with four unused bullets. (AP Photo/John Lent)
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Thomas Hagan, 22, struggles with police who take him from scene outside a ballroom in uptown New York City on Feb. 21, 1965, after Malcolm X, rebel black nationalist leader, was shot and killed. Police charge Hagan fired the shots that took Malcolm X’s life. (AP Photo)
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The body of Malcolm X, black nationalist leader who was assassinated February 21, 1965, lies in a casket at the Unity Funeral Home, Eighth Avenue and 126th Street, New York City, February 24. A glass screen was placed on the casket during public viewing. Malcolm was shot and killed during a rally of his organization in a Manhattan ballroom. (AP Photo)
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The body of Malcolm X, black nationalist leader who was slain February 21, 1965, at a rally of his organization, is viewed by newsmen at the Unity Funeral Home, Eighth Avenue and 126th Street in New York City February 24, 1965. The glass screen which has covered the body during public viewing, was removed for pictures. (AP Photo)
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The body of black nationalist leader Malcolm X, covered with a glass screen, is viewed by the public February 24, 1965, at the Unity Funeral Home at Eighth Avenue and 126th Street in New York City. Malcolm X was shot and killed February 21 at a rally of his organization of Afro-American Unity. (AP Photo)
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Cassius Clay heavyweight champion who changed his name to Muhammad Ali after he joined the Black Muslim sect, brushes snow from car window on his arrival at the home of sect leader Elijah Muhammad on Feb. 24, 1965 in Chicago. Muhammad?s home is protected by several policemen because of reporters here may be an attempt to take his life in revenge for the slaying of Black Nationalist leader Malcolm X on Sunday in New York. Malcolm X was a former Black Muslim member who started rival movement. (AP Photo/Paul Cannon )
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Muhammad Ali ?Cassius Clay?, heavyweight champion who changed his name to Muhammad Ali after he joined the Black Muslim sect on his arrival at the home of sect leader Elijah Muhammad, not shown, on Feb. 24, 1965 in Chicago. Muhammad?s home is protected by several policemen because of reporters here may be an attempt to take his life in revenge for the slaying of Black Nationalist leader Malcolm X on Sunday in New York. Malcolm X was a former Black Muslim member who started rival movement. (AP Photo/ Paul Cannon
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Malcolm X at a 1964 press conference
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Malcolm X in March 1964
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Malcolm X in March 1964
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Elijah Muhammad, founder and head of the Nation of Islam, is shown at a lecturn in Chicago introducing Malcolm X on Feb. 26, 1961. (AP Photo/Paul Cannon)
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Black Nationalist leader, Malcolm X, is pictured at a 1963 rally at Lennox Avenue and 115th St. in the Harlem section of New York. Louis Farrakhan, chief minister of the Nation of Islam's Boston mosque, is at the far right. (AP Photo/Robert Haggins)
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Malcolm X Shabazz is shown in 1963. (AP Photo)
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Black Muslim leader Malcolm X speaks to television newsmen at Duffy Square, New York, Feb. 13, 1963. The Muslims were picketing through the Times Square area. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler)
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Civil rights leader Malcolm X speaks to reporters in Washington, D.C., in this May 16, 1963 photo. (AP Photo)
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Malcolm X, head of the Washington Black Muslims, chats with people outside the Justice Department on 9th Street in Washington D.C. on June 14, 1963 during a civil rights parade. (AP Photo/Bob Schutz
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Black Muslim leader Malcolm X is shown addressing rally in Harlem, New York on June 29, 1963. (AP Photo)
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Malcolm X, Muslim leader, addresses a rally in Harlem in New York City on June 29, 1963. (AP Photo)
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Black Muslim leader Malcolm X holds up a paper for the crowd to see during a Black Muslim rally in New York City on Aug. 6, 1963. (AP Photo)
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World heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay signs autographs outside the Trans-Lux Theater on Broadway at 49th Street in New York, March 1, 1964 after he had watched a screening of the films showing his title victory over Sonny Liston in Miami Beach on Feb. 25. Behind Clay wearing hat and glasses is Black Muslim leader Malcolm X. (AP Photo/Jack Kanthal)
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World heavyweight boxing champion, Cassius Clay, signs autographs outside the Trans-Lux Theater on Broadway at 49th Street, New York City, March 1, 1964, after he had watched a screening of the films showing his title victory over Sonny Liston in Miami Beach, February 25. On Clay's left, with hat and glasses looking at the camera, is Malcolm X, a leader in the Black Muslim movement. (AP Photo)
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World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Muhammad Ali, right, is shown with Black Muslim Leader, Malcolm X, outside the Trans-Lux Newsreel Theater on Broadway at 49th Street, New York City, March 1, 1964. They had just watched a screening of films on Ali's title fight with Sonny Liston in Miami Beach, Feb. 25. (AP Photo)
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Malcolm X holds a news conference in the Tapestry Suite of Park Sheraton Hotel in New York City on March 12, 1964. (AP Photo)
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Martin Luther King, Jr. (left) and Malcolm X, March 26, 1964
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The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., left, of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and Malcolm X, head of a new group known as Muslim Mosque, Inc., smile for photographers March 26, 1964, at the Capitol. They shook hands after King announced plans for "direct action" protests if Southern senators filibuster against the civil rights bill. Malcolm X, who has broken with the Black Muslims, predicted another march on Washington if a filibuster against the civil rights drags on. (AP Photo/Henry Griffin)
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Malcolm X speaks at a news conference in the Hotel Theresa on 125th St. and Seventh Ave., in New York City, May 21, 1964. The black nationalist leader, who has just returned from Africa, says he wants to form a united Afro-American front to help bring the plight of the "Afro-American negroes" before the United Nations. After his pilgrimage to Mecca in April, he has changed his name to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. (AP Photo)
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Black Muslim leader Malcolm X arrives in New York at Kennedy Airport after a trip to the Middle East, May 22, 1964. (AP Photo/Pan American Airways)
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Malcolm X, left, African-American black muslim leader, is shown with King Faisal in Saudi Arabia in July 1964. (AP Photo)
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Malcolm X, black nationalist leader, is shown with his 16mm Bell and Howell motion picture camera at JFK International airport, July 9, 1964, prior to his departure for Egypt and Africa and the African Nations Conference. (AP Photo/Matty Zimmerman)
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Malcolm X, left, African-American black muslim leader, third from left, is shown with Ahmed Shukairi, center with extended hand, haed of the newly formed Palestinain organziation, explains at a news conference the significans of each of the four colors on the Palestinian flag in Egypt in Sept. 1964. (AP Photo)
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Malcolm X, left, African-American black muslim leader, meets with Abdul Reahman Babu, formerly minister for external affairs for Zanzibar and now Minister of State in the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, in Dar Es Salaam, on Oct. 16, 1964. (AP Photo)
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Black Muslim leader Malcolm X surveys cement where one of two molotov cocktails were thrown at his home, Feb. 14, 1965, in New York. He, his wife and children were in the house at the time of the firebombing but all escaped unharmed. (AP Photo)
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Black Muslim leader Malcolm X's New York City home is seen partially damaged after two molotov cocktails sparked a flash fire, Feb. 14, 1965. The Muslim leader and his family were in the house at the time but all escaped unharmed. (AP Photo/Harry Harris)
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Malcolm X Boulevard in New York City