Built in 1912 as a vaudeville and film theater, the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights became a gathering place for labor unions and political organizations by the mid-20th century. It is best known as the site where Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21, 1965, while addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity. After a preservation fight led in part by Malcolm X's widow, Betty Shabazz, roughly two-thirds of the building's facade and part of its ballroom interior were preserved. The site reopened in 2005 as the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center, housing exhibits on both leaders' lives and legacies.