Fred Shuttlesworth (b. March 18, 1922) is a civil rights activist who led the fight against segregation and other forms of racism as a minister in Birmingham, Alabama and continues to work against racism and for alleviation of the problems of the homeless in Cincinnati, where he took up a pastorate in 1961. March 18 is the 77th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (78th in leap years). ... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... This article is becoming very long. ... Nickname: The Magic City, Pittsburgh of the South, BHam, The Ham Location in Jefferson County in the state of Alabama Coordinates: Country United States State Alabama County Jefferson, Shelby Mayor Bernard Kincaid (D) Area    - City 151. ... Nickname: The Queen City Location in Hamilton County, Ohio Coordinates: Country United States State Ohio County Hamilton Founded 1788 Incorporated 1819 Mayor Mark L. Mallory (D) Area    - City 206. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ...

Early life

Born in Mugler, Alabama, he became pastor of the Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1953 and was Membership Chairman of the Alabama state chapter of the NAACP in 1956, when the State of Alabama formally outlawed it from operating within the state. In May, 1956 Shuttlesworth and Ed Gardner established the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights to take up the work formerly done by the NAACP. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1953 calendar). ... The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), is one of the oldest and most influential hate organizations in the United States. ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Ed Gardner - American Actor Married Shirley Booth in 1929 and the two were divorced in 1942. ...

The ACMHR raised almost all of its funds from local sources at mass meetings and used both direct action and litigation to pursue its goals. When the authorities ignored the ACMHR's demand that the City hire black police officers, the organization sued. Similarly, when the United States Supreme Court ruled in December, 1956 that bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama was unconstitutional, Shuttlesworth announced that the ACMHR would challenge segregation laws in Birmingham on December 26, 1956. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Rex Theatre for Colored People, Leland, Mississippi, June 1937 This entry is related to, but not included in the Political ideologies series or one of its sub-series. ... Coordinates: Country United States State Alabama County Montgomery Incorporated December 3, 1819 Mayor Bobby Bright Area    - City 404. ... Constitutionality is the status of a law, procedure, or act being in accordance with the laws or guidelines contained in a constitution. ... December 26 is the 360th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, 361st in leap years. ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

1956 attempt on his life

On December 25, 1956, unknown persons tried to kill Shuttlesworth by placing sixteen sticks of dynamite under his bedroom window; Shuttlesworth somehow escaped unhurt even though his house was heavily damaged. A police officer, who also belonged to the Ku Klux Klan, told Shuttlesworth as he came out of his home "If I were you I'd get out of town as quick as I could". Shuttlesworth told him to tell the Klan that he was not leaving and "I wasn't saved to run." December 25 is the 359th day of the year (360th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 6 days remaining for the year. ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Dynamite is an explosive based on the explosive potential of nitroglycerin using diatomaceous earth (Kieselguhr) as an adsorbent. ... Members of the second Ku Klux Klan at a rally during the 1920s. ...

Shuttlesworth led a group that integrated Birmingham's buses the next day, then sued after police arrested twenty-one passengers. His congregation built a new parsonage for him and posted sentries outside his house.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

In 1957 Shuttlesworth, along with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Ralph Abernathy from Montgomery, Rev. Joseph Lowery from Mobile, Alabama, Rev. T.J. Jemison from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Rev. C.K. Steele from Tallahassee, Florida, Rev. A.L.Davis from New Orleans, Louisiana and Bayard Rustin founded the Southern Leadership Conference on Transportation and Nonviolent Integration, later renamed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The SCLC adopted a motto to underscore its commitment to nonviolence: "Not one hair of one head of one person should be harmed." 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Martin Luther King redirects here. ... Ralph Abernathy at National Press Club luncheon. ... Joseph Lowery, (born October 6, 1921, in Huntsville, Alabama) is a leader in the American civil rights movement. ... Nickname: The Azalea City Coordinates: Country US State Alabama County Mobile Founded 1702 Incorporated 1814 Mayor Sam Jones Area    - City 412. ... Theodore Judson Jemison (born 1914), better known as T.J. Jemison, was President of the National Baptist Convention from 1982 to 1994. ... Nickname: Red Stick Motto: Authentic Louisiana at every turn Location Coordinates , Government Country   State     Parish United States   Louisiana     East Baton Rouge Parish Founded Incorporated 1699 16 January 1817 Mayor Melvin Kip Holden Geographical characteristics Area     City 204. ... Location Location in Leon County and the state of Florida. ... Nickname: The Crescent City, The Big Easy, The City That Care Forgot Location in the State of Louisiana and the United States Coordinates: Country United States State Louisiana Parish Orleans Founded 1718 Mayor Ray Nagin (D) Area    - City 350. ... Bayard Rustin at news briefing on the Civil Rights March on Washington, August 27, 1963 Bayard Rustin (March 17, 1912 - August 24, 1987) was an African-American civil rights activist, important largely behind the scenes in the civil rights movement of the 1960s and earlier. ... The Southern Christian Leadership Conference Logo. ... Nonviolence (or non-violence) is a set of assumptions about morality conflict that leads its proponents to reject the use of violence in efforts to attain social or political goals. ...

Shuttlesworth embraced that philosophy, even though his own personality was combative, headstrong and sometimes blunt-spoken to the point that he frequently antagonized his colleagues in the movement as well as his opponents. He was not shy in asking King to take a more active role in leading the fight against segregation and warning that history would not look kindly on those who gave "flowery speeches" but did not act on them. He alienated some members of his congregation by devoting as much time as he did to the civil rights movement, at the expense of weddings, funerals and other ordinary church functions. The civil rights movement in the United States has been a long, primarily nonviolent struggle to bring full civil rights and equality under the law to all citizens of United States. ...

As a result, Rev. Shuttlesworth moved to Cincinnati, Ohio to take up the pastorage of the Revelation Baptist Church in 1961. Shuttlesworth remained intensely involved in the Birmingham struggle even after moving to Cincinnati. Nickname: The Queen City Location in Hamilton County, Ohio Coordinates: Country United States State Ohio County Hamilton Founded 1788 Incorporated 1819 Mayor Mark L. Mallory (D) Area    - City 206. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ...

Shuttlesworth was apparently personally fearless, even though he was aware of the risks he ran. Other committed activists were scared off or mystified by his willingness to accept the risk of death. Shuttlesworth himself vowed to "kill segregation or be killed by it".

1957 attempt on his life

That nearly came true in 1957. When Shuttlesworth and his wife attempted to enroll their children in a previously all-white public school in Birmingham, a mob of Klansmen attacked them, with the police nowhere to be seen. His assailants beat him with chains and brass knuckles in the street while someone stabbed his wife in the rear. He lost consciousness but was dragged to safety and driven away. 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

When the doctor attending him expressed surprise that he had not suffered a concussion Shuttlesworth replied "Doctor, the Lord knew I lived in a hard town so he gave me a hard head". His wife, for her part, expressed regret that modesty would not allow to show other church members the scar she had gained. Shuttlesworth survived another attempt on his life a year later, when a church member standing guard saw the bomb and moved it to the street.

Freedom Rides

Shuttlesworth participated in the sit-ins against segregated lunch counters in 1960 and took part in the organization of the Freedom Rides in 1961. He invited King to come to Birmingham to lead the campaign to desegregate it through mass demonstrations–what Shuttlesworth called "Project C", the "C" standing for "confrontation". While Shuttlesworth was willing to negotiate with political and business leaders for peaceful abandonment of segregation, he believed, with good reason, that they would not take any steps that they were not forced to take and that their promises could not be trusted on until they acted on them. One of his protests resulted in the Supreme Court decision of Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham. A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more persons nonviolently occupying an area for protest, often political, social, or economic change. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Freedom Riders. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... Holding The Court held that (1) even though the actual construction of § 1142 of the Birmingham General City Code was unconstitutional, the judicial construction of the ordinance only prohibited standing or loitering on public property that obstructed free passage, but it was unclear from the record, whether the literal or...

Shuttlesworth was therefore set on provoking a crisis that would force the authorities and business leaders to recalculate the cost of segregation. He was helped immeasurably in this by Eugene "Bull" Connor, the Commissioner of Public Safety and most powerful public official in Birmingham. While Connor's violent tactics intimidated black citizens of Birmingham, they also created a split between Connor and the business leaders who resented both the damage he was doing to Birmingham's image around the world and his high-handed attitude toward them. Theophilus Eugene Bull Connor (July 11, 1897, Selma, Alabama – March 10, 1973) was a police official in the Southern U.S. state of Alabama during the American Civil Rights Movement and a staunch advocate of racial segregation. ...

Similarly, while Connor may have benefited politically in the short run from Shuttlesworth's determined provocations, that also fit Shuttleworth's long-term plans. The televised images of Connor directing the use of police dogs attacking unarmed demonstrators and of firefighters using hoses to knock down children had a profound effect on American citizens' view of the civil rights struggle and helped galvanize Congress into passing meaningful civil rights legislation.

Greater New Light Baptist Church

He organized the Greater New Light Baptist Church in 1966 and founded the Shuttlesworth Housing Foundation in 1988 to assist families who might otherwise be unable to buy their own homes. Named President of the SCLC in August, 2004, he resigned later in the year, complaining that "deceit, mistrust and a lack of spiritual discipline and truth have eaten at the core of this once-hallowed organization". 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Retirement

In January 2006, Rev. Shuttlesworth announced his retirement from the ministry. His last sermon is scheduled to be given on March 18, 2006 – his 84th birthday. March 18 is the 77th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (78th in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Further reading

• Branch, Taylor, Parting The Waters; America In The King Years 1954-63, ISBN 0-671-46097-8
• Manis, Andrew Michael, A Fire You Can't Put Out : the Civil Rights Life of Birmingham's Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, ISBN 0-8173-0968-3
• Morris, Aldon D., The Origins Of The Civil Rights Movement, Black Communities Organizing For Change, ISBN 0-02-922130-7
• Raines, Howell, My Soul Is Rested, The Story Of The Civil Rights Movement In The Deep South, ISBN 0-14-006753-1