While the forefathers who shepherded us through a tumultuous period of human and civil rights were changing the nation to be more suitable for their descendants, those same children were being raised to leave their own indelible impression on the world.
Here are six children, that you may not know spawned from civil rights leaders, who are creating their own legacies.
Attallah Shabazz
Attallah Shabazz, 56, of New York, is one of six children of leader Malcolm X (1925-1965) and wife Betty Shabazz (1934-1997). She was 6 years old when her father was assassinated in the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem.
Admittedly, she remembers that day, but what she holds on to for comfort is her father teaching her the importance of her own voice.
Shabazz realized she has her father’s oration skills during a speaking engagement in Panama in 1979,
“I don’t remember much of what I said, but it must have been OK, because when I sat down a Panamanian official leaned over and whispered approvingly, ‘You’re going to be just like him,’ she said. This jolted me into realizing that people are not going to let me forget who I am.”
She didn’t feel overwhelmed by this calling, however, she felt illuminated by it,
“I am not under a shadow,” she said. “I’m under a light.”
Attallah has chosen to let her light shine both academically and artistically to preserve the values of education and self-actualization that her father faithfully preached. She is an actress, theatrical director, producer and lecturer.
