This Day in History: br Malcolm X Is Assassinated February 21, 1965 The African American nationalist br and religious leader was br assassinated by rival Black Muslims br of the Nation of Islam in New York City. He had been addressing br his Organization of Afro-br American Unity at the Audubon br Ballroom in Washington Heights. Founded just months earlier by Malcolm, br the organization advocated black identity br and held that racism — not the white race — br was the greatest foe of the African American. The Nation of Islam — from which br Malcolm X had separated before br his pilgrimage to Mecca — advocated br black nationalism and racial separatism. Malcolm’s new movement br steadily gained followers, br becoming increasingly influential br in the civil rights movement. An estimated 30,000 br mourners attended br his funeral in Harlem.