Attallah Shabazz (born November 16, 1958) is an American actress, author, diplomat, and motivational speaker, and the eldest daughter of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz.
Malcolm X was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement.
Who is Malcolm X’s oldest daughter?
Attallah Shabazz was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 16, 1958. Shabazz says her name is Arabic for “the gift of God” and she is not named after Attila the Hun as her father’s autobiography states.
Shabazz had an apolitical upbringing in a racially integrated neighborhood in Mount Vernon, New York. Her family never took part in demonstrations or attended rallies. She received religious education at the Islamic Center at Riverside Drive and 72nd Street in Manhattan.
Shabazz signed a contract in 1994 to write her memoirs. The book’s publication was postponed several times. A 1997 review of the book, From Mine Eyes, called it the “powerful and uplifting story of a young girl who came of age during the height of the civil rights movement and is now able to share, in vivid detail, the most tragic events of her life”