Malcolm X Plaza opens in Harlem as an Islamic tribute

In tribute to the slain black leader, the new $1m Malcolm X Plaza in Harlem opened Saturday as an Islamic-style garden that replaces a crumbling sidewalk.

In tribute to the slain black leader, the new $1m Malcolm X Plaza in Harlem opened Saturday as an Islamic-style garden that replaces a crumbling sidewalk.

The plaza on 110th Street, at the junction of Malcolm X Boulevard and St. Nicholas Avenue, was officially unveiled at a morning ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by members of his family, community leaders and city officials.

Representing Malcolm X's Muslim faith, the plaza is landscaped as a replica of an Islamic garden, with benches, chairs and tables amid trees, shrubs and white roses.

It was jointly designed by the city's Department of Design and Construction and Cityscape Institute, a not-for-profit urban design group.

A statue of the civil rights leader, who was gunned down in the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem in 1965, will eventually be added to the site.

Malcolm X was at the forefront of the 1960s civil rights struggle that accompanied the rise of the Muslim faith in America, with competing branches of the movement active in Harlem. Three men with ties to the Nation of Islam were convicted in the slaying and served prison terms.