Growing Up X - Hardcover

A moving memoir of coming of age describes growing up fatherless as the daughter of the legendary Malcolm X, assassinated when she was two years old, her mother's determination to protect her children from the barrage of media, her discovery of her father's contributions, and life in the Shabazz household, from sibling rivalry to first boyfriends to her education.

February 21, 1965–Malcolm X is assassinated in Harlem’s Audubon ballroom, becoming even more inspiring a figure in death than he has been in life.

June 23, 1997–After surviving for a remarkable twenty-two days, his widow, Betty Shabazz, dies of burns suffered in a fire set by her own grandson.

In the years between, their six daughters reach adulthood, forged by the memory of their parents’ love, the meaning of their cause, and the power of their faith. Now, at long last, one of them has recorded that touching and tumultuous journey in an unforgettable memoir, Growing Up X.

Born in 1962, Ilyasah was the middle Shabazz child, a rambunctious live-wire and self-described “Mommy’s girl” who fought for–and won–attention in an all-female household, a warm place as full of fun as learning, chaos, and love. From the first days after her father’s death left the family famous (and homeless) to the years of private schools and personal bodyguards . . . from studying the Muslim faith to understanding the mystery of boys . . . from coming to terms with her father’s murder to the shock of her mother’s passing, Ilyasah’s life is one of stunning contradictions: deprived and privileged, unique and endearingly normal.

Here is a girl carrying on the legacy of a renowned father and indomitable mother while navigating childhood and, along the way, learning to do the Hustle. Here is a child who was a different color from other kids at camp and then, years later, a young woman not radical enough for her college classmates. Above all else, here is a tribute to a mother of almost unimaginable forbearance, a woman who “from that day at the Audubon when she heard the shots and threw her body on our own, [never] stopped shielding her children.”

Written with great warmth and simplicity–and featuring reminiscences of famous friends, colleagues, and acquaintances like Coretta Scott King, Muhammad Ali, and Spike Lee–Growing Up X is a fascinating, first-ever look at a family many have admired from afar . . . and never seen so close.