Assassination of Malcolm X

Date: February 21, 1965 • Location: Washington Heights, United States

American Black nationalist Malcolm X (pictured) was assassinated while giving a speech in New York City's Audubon Ballroom.

Black nationalism is a type of racial nationalism which seeks representation for Black people as a distinct national identity, especially in racialized, colonial and postcolonial societies. Its earliest proponents saw it as a way to advocate for democratic representation in culturally plural societies or to establish self-governing independent nation-states for Black people. Modern Black nationalism often aims for the social, political, and economic empowerment of Black communities within white majority societies, either as an alternative to assimilation or as a way to ensure greater representation and equality within predominantly Eurocentric cultures.