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Civil Rights Hero Fred Shuttlesworth Dead at 89

Shuttlesworth survived bombings and beatings to end segregation

By Mark Russell,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 6, 2011 3:05 AM CDT

(Newser) – Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, one of the most dynamic leaders of the civil rights movement, died yesterday at the age of 89, reports the Washington Post. Shuttlesworth survived bombing attempts, beatings, and dozens of arrests in his attempts to end segregation in the South, and was key in making nonviolence a central tenet of the movement. In the early '60s, harsh images of Shuttlesworth and other protesters being attacked in Birmingham, Alabama, by police with fire hoses, dogs, and truncheons shocked America and help spur an end to segregation.

“He was one of the most courageous men that I have ever known," said Rev. Joseph Lowery, who co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Shuttlesworth and Martin Luther King Jr. "I don’t know of anyone else that could have led the movement in Birmingham." Shuttlesworth was beaten unconscious by a Ku Klux Klan mob when he tried to enroll his children in a white school in 1957. The year before, he suffered only minor injuries when 15 sticks of dynamite exploded beneath his bedroom window on Christmas Day. “I believe I was almost at death’s door at least 20 times,” Shuttlesworth recalled in 2001. “But when the first bomb went off, it took all fear from my mind. I knew God was with me like he was with Daniel in the lions’ den."

This May 15, 1963 picture shows civil rights leader Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth at a news conference in Birmingham, Ala.
This May 15, 1963 picture shows civil rights leader Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth at a news conference in Birmingham, Ala.   (AP Photo)
In this June 28, 2007 file photo, the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth departs the Federal Courthouse in Montgomery, Ala.
In this June 28, 2007 file photo, the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth departs the Federal Courthouse in Montgomery, Ala.   (AP Photo/Dave Martin, File)
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., left, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, center, and Rev. Ralph Abernathy hold a news conference in Birmingham, Ala. in 1963.
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., left, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, center, and Rev. Ralph Abernathy hold a news conference in Birmingham, Ala. in 1963.   (AP Photo, File)
In a June 17, 1963 photo, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, left, of Atlanta, Ga., and the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth talk to reporters at the White House after a conference with President Kennedy.
In a June 17, 1963 photo, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, left, of Atlanta, Ga., and the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth talk to reporters at the White House after a conference with President Kennedy.   (AP Photo/Bill Allen, File)
In this March 14, 2006 photo, The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth poses inside of the The Greater New Light Baptist Church in Cincinnati.
In this March 14, 2006 photo, The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth poses inside of the The Greater New Light Baptist Church in Cincinnati.   (AP Photo/Tom Uhlman)
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There was not a person in the civil rights movement who put himself in the position of being killed more often than Fred Shuttlesworth. - Greg Manis,
the Rev. Shuttlesworth's biographer

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 12 comments
Barack_Must_Go
Oct 6, 2011 12:04 PM CDT
Fred Shuttlesworth was a true " real " American in the most basic ( pure ) sense of the word.    They don't make selfless men like this anymore. 
TiredMemeCat
Oct 6, 2011 4:38 AM CDT
His timing couldn't have been worse.
Scaramouche
Oct 6, 2011 3:45 AM CDT
That's two. Who's the third going to be?

 
obituary • civil rights • civil rights movement • desegregation • Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth

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