Fred Shuttlesworth

Freddie Lee Shuttlesworth (born Freddie Lee Robinson, March 18, 1922 – October 5, 2011) was an American civil rights activist who led the fight against segregation and other forms of racism as a minister in Birmingham, Alabama.

Born in Mount Meigs, Alabama on March 18, 1922, Shuttlesworth became pastor of the Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1953 and was Membership Chairman of the Alabama state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1956, when the State of Alabama formally outlawed it from operating within the state.

Shuttlesworth studied at Selma University, earning his B.A. in 1951, and later earned his B.S. from Alabama State University.

Shuttlesworth got his license as a country preacher when he was changing from a Methodist to a Baptist Christian.

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.

The ACMHR raised almost all of its funds from local sources at mass meetings.

It used both litigation and direct action 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.

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 raised to run."

Fred Shuttlesworth attended Rosedale High School from which he graduated as the valedictorian.

In 1957, Shuttlesworth, along with Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy from Montgomery, Joseph Lowery from Mobile, Alabama, T. J. Jemison from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Charles Kenzie Steele from Tallahassee, Florida, A. L. Davis from New Orleans, Louisiana, Bayard Rustin and Ella Baker founded 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."

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 Civil Rights 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 movement at the expense of weddings, funerals, and other ordinary church functions.

When Shuttlesworth and his wife Ruby attempted to enroll their children in John Herbert Phillips High School, a previously all-white public school in Birmingham in the summer of 1957, a mob of Klansmen attacked them, with the police nowhere to be seen.

The mob beat Shuttlesworth with "chains, baseball bats and brass knuckles, and his wife was stabbed in the hips".

In 1958, Shuttlesworth survived another attempt on his life.

A church member standing guard saw a bomb that had been placed beside the church and quickly moved it to the street before it went off.

Shuttlesworth participated in the sit-ins against segregated lunch counters in 1960 and took part in the organization and completion of the Freedom Rides in 1961.

Shuttlesworth originally warned that Alabama was extremely volatile when he was consulted before the Freedom Rides began.

Shuttlesworth noted that he respected the courage of the activists proposing the Rides but that he felt other actions could be taken to accelerate the Civil Rights Movement that would be less dangerous.

However, the planners of the Rides were undeterred and decided to continue preparing.

After it became certain that the Freedom Rides were to be carried out, Shuttlesworth worked with the Congress of Racial Equality (C.O.R.E.) to organize the Rides and became engaged with ensuring the success of the rides, especially during their stint in Alabama.

As a result, in 1961, Shuttlesworth moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, to take up the pastorage of the Revelation Baptist Church.

He remained intensely involved in the Birmingham campaign after moving to Cincinnati, and frequently returned to help lead actions.

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".

He was a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, initiated and was instrumental in the 1963 Birmingham Campaign, and continued to work against racism and for alleviation of the problems of the homeless in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he took up a pastorate in 1961.

He returned to Birmingham after his retirement in 2007.

He worked with Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement, though the two men often disagreed on tactics and approaches.

The Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport was named in his honor in 2008.

The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award is bestowed annually in his name.

His assailants included Bobby Frank Cherry, who six years later was involved in the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing.

Shuttlesworth drove himself and his wife to the hospital, where he told his children to "always forgive".