Betty Before X

Content Warning: This section discusses anti-Black racism. It depicts scenes of racial discrimination and racist violence.

The author, Ilyasah Shabazz, is Betty Shabazz’s daughter. Although the story is a fictional rendering of her mother’s preteen years, Ilyasah had an insider’s view of her mother’s life, work, personality, and passions. Her co-author, Renee Watson, is an author whose acclaimed work on social issues make her a knowledgeable collaborator.

In one of the book’s Epigraphs, Ilyasah writes, “A society is measured by the progress of its women. My father said, ‘When you educate a boy, you teach a community; when you educate a girl, you raise a nation.’ I dedicate this book to his beloved wife, my mother, Dr. Betty Shabazz, whose belief in the potential of every single girl inspired me to share her story with you” (epigraph, v).

When writing about her mother in a fictional context, Ilyasah is committed to an authentic treatment of her mother’s story. The decision to write the book as fiction is notable, as a memoir about being the daughter of Betty Shabazz, or a traditional biography of Betty herself, would have been marketable.

Ilyasah describes her mother in the book’s Afterword as a paragon of forgiveness, passion, righteousness, curiosity, and education. Betty was pregnant with twin girls on the night that Malcolm X, her husband, was murdered at the Audubon Ballroom while speaking to a crowd. A week earlier, someone had thrown a homemade firebomb into the nursery where Ilyasah had been sleeping with her sisters.

Ilyasah watched her mother’s reactions in the aftermath of Malcolm’s death. She was newly widowed, the mother of four, and carrying twin girls. She was also the widow of a man who had been targeted by the FBI, the Nation of Islam, and the CIA, so she could expect little support from the government or her former religious group.

Ilyasah writes of her mother similarly to the way that Betty views Mrs. Malloy in Betty Before X. There are hints of Betty’s deep commitment to the cause of racial justice in the novel, but the most difficult moments of Betty’s life, the most challenging tests of her conviction, would occur much later. Betty could not tolerate the idea of living as a victim, and Malcolm would not have wanted her to live in sorrow, despite her losses. Betty served as a role model for Ilyasah, in the way that Mrs. Malloy and Mrs. Peck served as role models for her.

Betty worked tirelessly for decades, collaborating with several presidential administrations and receiving countless accolades and honors. She also succeeded in convincing the government to issue a stamp with Malcolm X’s face on it, a clear sign of her influence in his absence.

Ilyasah writes in the Afterword that her primary goal for the book is “that by reading my mother’s story, young people who may be feeling abandoned or neglected, fearful or hopeless, anxious or unsure, will find inspiration” (227). She encourages readers to strive to embody the book’s themes of resilience, personal growth, charity, and a commitment to eradicate injustice and racism wherever they are found.