Ilyasah Shabazz, Daughter of Malcolm X, to Speak at 2022 MLK Memorial Tribute

11/30/2021Media Inquiries

Maggie Rotermund
Senior Media Relations Specialist
maggie.rotermund@slu.edu
314-977-8018

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11/30/2021

Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz, will give the keynote address at the tenth annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Tribute, hosted by Saint Louis University and the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022.

Ilyasah Shabazz.

Shabazz is the co-chairperson of the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center. Her work focuses on institution building and intergenerational leadership development with the tenants of diversity, equity and inclusion.

She is an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, teaching “Perspectives on Justice in the Africana World.”

Shabazz is also an award-winning author, educator and producer. She has authored five historical novels and served as a project advisor for the PBS documentary film Prince Among Slaves.

She is the president and founder of Ilyasah Shabazz Enterprises. Shabazz holds a B.S. in Biology from New Paltz College and has a M.S. in Education and Human Resource Development.

In its 10 years, the MLK tribute at SLU has drawn an array of distinguished speakers. In 2018, diplomat and noted civil rights champion Ambassador Andrew Young, delivered the tribute’s keynote address. He received the Civil Rights Legends Award. Young told the crowd, “This country is not going backward.”

Previous awardees have included Martin Luther King III; Rev. Starsky Wilson; Kelvin Adams, Ph.D., superintendent of the St. Louis Public Schools; Marc Morial, president of the national Urban League; and civil rights leader Xernona Clayton, among others.

This year’s tribute will be held in the Wool Ballroom, Busch Student Center, and will begin at 9 a.m. Complimentary parking will be available in the University’s Laclede Garage.

Registration information will be shared at a later date.

Founded in 1818, Saint Louis University is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious Catholic institutions. Rooted in Jesuit values and its pioneering history as the first university west of the Mississippi River, SLU offers more than 15,200 students a rigorous, transformative education of the whole person. At the core of the University’s diverse community of scholars is SLU’s service-focused mission, which challenges and prepares students to make the world a better, more just place.