Today marks the 60th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X , one of the most influential political figures of the 20th century. Malcolm X was shot dead as he spoke before a packed audience at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem on February 21, 1965. Malcolm X had just taken the stage when shots rang out, riddling his body with bullets. He was 39 years old. Two of the three men convicted of Malcolm X’s assassination were exonerated in 2021 after decades of advocacy on behalf of the men — Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam — and after a two-year investigation by the Manhattan DA’s Office and the Innocence Project found that prosecutors, the FBI and the New York Police Department omitted key evidence around the murder.