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Moroccan scholar and Columbia University professor Hisham Aidi has received the prestigious Vanguard Award for his decades-long work preserving and promoting the legacy of Malcolm X.
The award was presented by Ilyasah Shabazz — daughter of Malcolm X — and the City of New York on May 19, during a ceremony at the Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center in Harlem, the site where the civil rights revolutionary was assassinated.
Aidi, who also serves as an academic advisor at the center, has spent over thirty years researching Malcolm X’s global influence.
He has worked closely with the Shabazz family on cultural and educational projects aimed at empowering Harlem youth, including incarcerated and marginalized communities.
His contributions include curating a new exhibition tracing Malcolm X’s political journey and directing the documentary “Malcolm X and the Sudanese,” which explores Sudan’s influence on the activist’s worldview.
As lead researcher of the Columbia Malcolm X Project, Aidi has traveled the world collecting testimonies and studying international perceptions of Malcolm X.
Recognized for shaping global discourse on justice and equality, Aidi has previously received the American Book Award, the Hip Hop Scholar Award, and the Carnegie Scholar Award. The event’s host, academic Marc Lamont Hill, praised Aidi for playing a pivotal role in advancing Malcolm X studies worldwide.
