By The Malcolm X Commemoration Committee
“I have no mercy or compassion in me for a society that will crush people, and then penalize them for not being able to stand under its weight…” – Malcolm X
THE MALCOLM X COMMEMORATION COMMITTEE: 973 202 0745; 917 346 8142
On Tuesday May 19th, the 61st Annual Pilgrimage to the Gravesite of Malcolm X will take place to observe his 101st birthday anniversary!
Participants for the Pilgrimage leave 125th Street and Adam Clayton Boulevard or African Square in Harlem at 9am.
Buses and cars often from as far away as Boston to Washington DC and beyond converge at that time to make the trek to Ferncliff Cemetery in Ardsley NY.
The Pilgrimage and Ceremony was conceived by the late Ella Little-Collins, the older sister of Malcolm X. An amazing and ferociously self determining woman, she actually ran Malcolm’s Organization for AfroAmerican Unity for five years after Malcolm’s death. Upon conceiving of the Pilgrimage, she tasked a young James Small to be responsible for that moving gathering. He has done so faithfully every year on that day rain or shine and has become a beloved African centered scholar along the way!
The Malcolm X Commemoration Committee (MXCC) is again hosting their ‘Freedom FIghters’ bus for local participants who cannot drive to the Cemetery. Tickets for the bus are $25. per person and should be purchased in advance by texting 973 202 0745 or 917 346 8142.
MXCC has played a key role in the growth of the Pilgrimage since their 1990s inception.
Upon returning from the Pilgrimage, MXCC and other participants will join the annual shutting down of 125th Street organized by the December 12th Movement. Now called ‘Commercial Moment of Silence and Black Power Walk, this tradition is now in its 36th year.
Participants assemble at African Square at 12 noon for the annual shutdown and march at 1pm…
Later that evening, at the Malcolm X and Dr Betty Shabazz Educational Center, the former Audubon Ballroom where Malcolm hosted rallies for his Organization of Afro American Unity and was ultimate and still hauntingly assassinated on February 21st, 1965, his daughter scholar educator and author, Dr Ilyasah Shabazz will be center stage for her latest book on her courageous father, Malcolm In The Desert:Wisdom From the Spiritual Transformation of Malcolm X (Legacy Lit Books).
This year, to mark both the occasion of the book release and the annual birthday tribute, this will be a two day affair. On Monday May 18th, Dr Shabazz will be spotlighted in a fireside chat and on Tuesday, May 19th, she curates her annual tribute to her father. See the eventbrite registration below…
Malcolm X was one of the most catalytic freedom fighters of the modern epoch! He was born on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska to unflinchingly brave Garveyite parents Louise and Earl Little. Emerging from a Massachusetts prison in 1952, he became a minister for a then fledgling, but fearless Nation Of Islam. He was singularly responsible for its exponential growth between 1952 and his departure from the organization in 1964. Upon his departure from the Nation Of Islam he sought to charge the United States with Genocide for violating the Human Rights of people of African descent in the United States in much the same way Paul Robeson and William Patterson sought to in 1951 through the Civil Rights. He became a revolutionary beacon for PanAfricanism and international solidarity in the process. He was assassinated on February 21, 1965…
Looking Ahead…
WE REMEMBER ASSATA TO THE FULLEST!
On Monday, May 4th, fallen exiled freedom fighter Assata Shakur will be honored, analyzed and remembered by the Africana Studies Department of the University of Massachusetts at Boston.
It will be a loaded dialogue called ‘Carrying On The Tradition:Legacies of AntiRacist Struggles and the Ongoing Persecution of our Political Prisoners.’
Its special guests will include Prof Akinyele Umoja who gave us the compelling We Will Shoot Back and the cherished former chair and first board member of MXCC Dequi Kioni Sadiki. She was key in leading the campaign to secure the release of her immortal late husband Sekou Odinga, of the NY chapter of the Black Panther Party and later the Black Liberation Army. Odinga was charged with being responsible for Shakur’s epic escape from a New Jersey prison in 1979. He endured 34 years in prison for his commitment. Department professors Tony Van Der Meer and Keith Jones will ground the intergenerational conversation that will be rounded out with several U Mass students as well.
This moving dialogue will take place at the Point Lounge Campus Center 3rd Floor, 100 William T Morrissey Blvd, Boston…
On Saturday, May 30th, the family comrades and friends of the most cherished fallen freedom fighter Assata Shakur will host her official memorial at Harlem’s historic Riverside Church, located 490 Riverside Dr Harlem.
This moving gathering simply called Carry It On: The Life and Legacy of Assata Shakur will take place at 4pm. Doors will open at 3pm.
This gathering is expressly curated and organized by Assata’s family and closest friends.
Assata Olugbala Shakur, of the legendary NY chapter of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army, passed away on September 25th, 2025 while in exile in Cuba. Her incredible story has been an inspiration for oppressed people all over the world.
https://form.jotform.com/260304546094151
