The 110 St-Central Park North subway station has been officially renamed to honor one of Harlem’s greats: El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, known to all as Malcolm X.
“One of the best ways to celebrate the rich history and community of Harlem is to recognize the contributions of Malcolm X and the Harlem Renaissance to New York and to the world,” said Governor Kathy Hochul, who attended the bill signing and commemoration event on Sunday, August 10.
The renaming falls during the 51st annual Harlem Week and the 100th anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance. “It is especially meaningful to be here as we celebrate Harlem Week and mourn the passing of its co-founder, Lloyd A. Williams, whose life was dedicated to championing this community,” continued Hochul.
The adjacent Malcolm Shabazz Plaza on West 110th Street was designated for the civil rights leader more than 20 years ago. It’s been a vibrant gathering space for the community since, but many wanted the subway station at the corner of the plaza to also be a permanent landmark in the city’s public transportation system.
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To get the ball rolling, State Senator Cordell Cleare introduced Bill S.1204/A.5339, renaming the 110 St-Central Park North 2/3 subway station to 110 St-Malcolm X Plaza, and Bill S.7152A/A.8220A, which designates the Harlem Renaissance Cultural District as a region of cultural significance from 110th St to 155th St and from 5th Avenue to the Hudson River. Both bills were signed into law this week.
“I can’t tell y’all how many times I’ve cried today,” said Cleare at the podium. “This is a multi-level project, and it means a lot of things to this community. When you see this happen, not only is this the sign of an accessible, modernized, beautiful subway station, which is badly needed. Not only is this a tribute to one of our greatest legends and heroes, it’s also a center of enlightenment, and of upliftment of programming, of education, of information, services, and resources.”
Malcolm X lived in Harlem for more than a decade, first in 1943, and then from 1954 until his assassination at 39 in the Audubon Ballroom (now “The Shabazz Center”) in Washington Heights in 1965. The signing ceremony was attended by Friends of Malcolm X Plaza, community leaders, and three of his daughters: Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz, Malaak Shabazz, and Gamilah Lumumba Shabazz.
“The naming of 110th Street in his memory is more than a signpost to his family and the community. It is a symbol of hope rooted deep in Harlem’s soul. Harlem has always been more than geography,” said I. Shabazz at the event. “Harlem is an idea, a cultural epicenter, the birthplace on Black art, Black thought, Black spirituality, Black resistance, Black brilliance. The people, these neighborhood blocks, these buildings and subway stations, they don’t just hold history, they make history. And this subway station now carries his name and our shared legacy.”
Elected officials in attendance included State Assemblymember Jordan Wright, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stuart-Cousins, City Councilmember Yusef Salaam, and Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) President Demitrius Crichlow, the first Black person to hold his position.
“I grew up coming in and out of this station,” said Wright, who sponsored the Assembly version of the legislation. “And it means a lot to me as a former educator, that when I used to walk the street saying, ‘I’m going between Lenox and Seventh Avenues.’ Now young people say, ‘I’m between Malcolm X Boulevard and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard.”
“As we reflect on a moment, on the life of our brother, we need to reflect that right here among us are Malcolms,” said Adams. “We need to reclaim our young people, who are just feeling as though society has abandoned them.”
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins reflected on her relationship with Dr. Betty Shabazz, who briefly lived in Yonkers, and her husband. “I was around in 1965. I was a teenager. I knew the battle for our liberation as Black people,” she said. “And one of the things that Brother Malcolm taught us is that you had to free your mind.”
Crichlow, in his remarks, spoke about X’s history as a New Haven transit railroad worker in 1941. X worked a series of jobs on the railroads from Boston to New York, such as a restaurant worker, at a shoeshine stand, and in a jewelry store. “Malcolm understood that transit is the ultimate equalizer. It gives millions of people the opportunity for freedom, to travel, the way you need to get,” he said. “So what better way to honor Malcolm than to have this great man, in this great community, a transportation employee, an icon, have a station with his name on it.”
Cleare’s office said that further ambitious plans for the plaza and station include installing a permanent statue of Malcolm X, a fully renovated and accessible subway station at 110th Street, and expanded beautification of the plaza.
Similar legislation to rename the Utica Avenue subway station on the A and C lines in Brooklyn after Malcolm X, proposed by Senator Zellnor Myrie and Assemblymember Stefani Zinerman, is also in the works.