The Audubon Ballroom is best known as the site of Malcolm X’s assassination on February 21, 1965. After Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam in 1964, he founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity and held weekly meeting of the organization at Audubon Ballroom. At one of those meetings, Malcolm X was assassinated. Columbia University bought the building in 1980, with the intention of tearing it down. Many activist groups protested and the University eventually agreed to restore a portion of the original façade of the Audubon Ballroom and build a museum inside to honor Malcolm X. In 2005 the University announced the opening of the museum, the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center.