Ilyasah Shabazz, the daughter of civil rights icon Malcolm X, will be speaking Feb. 16 at Jackson State University as part of a conference titled Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Malcolm X.
According to Dr. Rico D. Chapman, associate professor of the Department of History and Philosophy:
– At 10 a.m. Shabazz will give the event’s keynote address in the Liberal Arts Auditorium, on the occasion of the 50thanniversary of Malcolm X’s assassination;
– 11 a.m. A panel book review will he held with a signing of Shabazz’s book, Growing up X: A Memoir by the Daughter of Malcolm X.
– At 6 p.m. will be held a Dinner Conversation between Shabazz and Reena Evers-Everette, daughter of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers. It will be the first public conversation between the daughters of two human rights martyrs in Mississippi.
“These events are open to the public,” said Chapman.
On Tuesday, February 17, as part of the Black History Makers Forum, students will showcase their scholarship on the theme of The Life and Legacy of Malcolm X and other interdisciplinary topics.
Shabazz will also meet privately with students, faculty, administrators and staff during the day and others briefly on Tuesday, Feb. 17.
The conference is presented by the Fannie Lou Hamer Institute @ COFO (the Council of Federated Organizations) and the College of Liberal Arts.
Malcolm X, a Muslim minister and human rights activist, also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, was gunned down Feb. 19, 1965, in New York City. He had been a member of the Nation of Islam, recruiting thousands of members nationwide, but was assassinated by three of its members after founding Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity.
For more information and to reserve your seat, please visit: www.jsums.edu/HamerInstitute or contact The Fannie Lou Hamer Institute @ COFO at 601-979-4348 or 601-979-1563