R.I.P CELEBRATE THE LIFE OF AN CIVIL
RIGHTS ICON! Civil rights leader Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth dead at
89
The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, who
helped lead the civil rights movement, has died, the Birmingham Civil Rights
Institute said Wednesday. He was 89.
Shuttlesworth is among the iconic figures honored in
the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame at the Martin Luther King Jr.
National Historic Site in Atlanta. King once called Shuttlesworth “the most
courageous civil rights fighter in the South.”
When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against segregated busing in Montgomery, Alabama, Shuttlesworth rallied the membership of a group he established in May 1956 — the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights — to challenge the practice of segregated busing in Birmingham.
When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against segregated busing in Montgomery, Alabama, Shuttlesworth rallied the membership of a group he established in May 1956 — the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights — to challenge the practice of segregated busing in Birmingham.
Shuttlesworth
also helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, with King and
other civil rights leaders.
Shuttlesworth’s efforts weren’t without a price: his home was bombed on Christmas Day in 1956, but he and his family were not injured.
Shuttlesworth’s efforts weren’t without a price: his home was bombed on Christmas Day in 1956, but he and his family were not injured.
He was, however, hurt in 1957 when he was beaten with
chains and whips as he sought to integrate an all-white public school.
That same year, Shuttlesworth helped King organize the SCLC, serving as the organization’s first secretary from 1958 to 1970. He later served briefly as its president in 2004.
In 2001, President Bill Clinton awarded Shuttlesworth a Presidential Citizens Medal — the nation’s second-highest civilian award — for his leadership in the “non-violent civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, leading efforts to integrate Birmingham, Alabama’s schools, buses and recreational facilities” and helping found the SCLC.
That same year, Shuttlesworth helped King organize the SCLC, serving as the organization’s first secretary from 1958 to 1970. He later served briefly as its president in 2004.
In 2001, President Bill Clinton awarded Shuttlesworth a Presidential Citizens Medal — the nation’s second-highest civilian award — for his leadership in the “non-violent civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, leading efforts to integrate Birmingham, Alabama’s schools, buses and recreational facilities” and helping found the SCLC.
Shuttlesworth also protested segregated lunch counters
and helped lead sit-ins at the eateries in 1960.
His Last Sermon in 2006
Rev Shuttlesworth 'my Relationship with Martin Luther King Jr"
He participated in organizing the Freedom Rides
against segregated interstate buses in the South when he joined forces with the
Congress On Racial Equality.
In 1963, he was injured again when a fire hose was turned on him during a protest against segregation in Birmingham. The blast of water, directed against demonstrators by order of local sheriff Bull Connor, slammed Shuttlesworth against a wall. He was hospitalized but recovered.
He was also a principal in the historic march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, which he helped organize.
In 1963, he was injured again when a fire hose was turned on him during a protest against segregation in Birmingham. The blast of water, directed against demonstrators by order of local sheriff Bull Connor, slammed Shuttlesworth against a wall. He was hospitalized but recovered.
He was also a principal in the historic march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, which he helped organize.
In the early 1960s, he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he fought homelessness and continued the movement against racism. There, he founded and served as pastor of the Greater New Light Baptist Church from 1966 to 2006.
In the 1980s, he established the Shuttlesworth Housing
Foundation in Cincinnati, which provided grants to help low-income families buy
homes.
The Ohio Civil Rights Commission has placed Shuttlesworth in its Hall of Fame.
The Ohio Civil Rights Commission has placed Shuttlesworth in its Hall of Fame.
SERVANT WELL DONE!
GOD BLESS YOU REV SHUTTLESWORTH AND THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DONE TO MAKE OUR LIVES BETTER!
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