Background
James Monroe King Warden was born in Brooklyn and raised in the impoverished Morningside Park section of Harlem, New New York
James Monroe King Warden was born in Brooklyn and raised in the impoverished Morningside Park section of Harlem, New New York
He attended the The Bronx High School of Science, from which he graduated with honors.
He then initially enrolled in the City College of New York but transferred to Lincoln University in Chester County, Pennsylvania after a year, though he soon left that school as well to join the Army. Following his discharge, he returned to Lincoln, graduating with honors in English in 1958. 7. Subsequently, he was appointed Circulation Manager of the Muhammad Speaks Newspaper for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, thus directly answerable to Minister Malcolm X.
Upon Malcolm’s instruction, Abdullah – then still known as James 67X – abandoned the 67X and took the name of James Shabazz.
He remained with, and vigorously assisted Brother Malcolm, prior to – and ever since – his murder on February 21, 1965.
Post-Malcolm X Days
Abdur-Razzaq spent the years immediately following Malcolm X"s murder under the radar. He would later move to Guyana, where he worked as a farmer.
Returning to the United States. in 1988, he earned his nursing degree, and he worked in this profession up through his retirement in 2004. In recent years, Abdullah Abdur-Razzaq’s work as Staff Consultant for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, has been in cataloguing rare photographs, letters and accounts of the great leader’s life and times.
Furthermore, his expertise is widely solicited by journalists, authors, film makers and educators alike.
In addition to his contributions to a wide array of published works, such as Bruce Perry’s Malcolm X: The Last Speeches, Mr. Abdur-Razzaq has been featured in several television interviews and films, including Make lieutenant Plain and Gil Noble’s Like lieutenant Is. In April 2013, Abdur-Razzaq returned to his alma mater, Lincoln University to speak about his memories and experiences working with Malcolm X.
Battling leukemia, Abdur-Razzaq was admitted to Harlem Hospital in late 2014.
After spending several weeks here, he was transferred to Bellevue Hospital Center in Kips Bay, Manhattan, where he died on November 21, 2014 at the age of 82.
He was survived by a wife, a brother, children, grandchildren, and a large extended family.