REVEREND FRED L. SHUTTLESWORTH:

1
REVEREND FRED L. SHUTTLESWORTH
A TRUE AMERICAN HERO
2
Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth.
Few of us, probably, have heard his name.
All of us should have.
3
Rev. Shuttlesworth has spent his life as the
pastor of several Baptist churches.
But he is best known for what he did while he
served at the Bethel Baptist Church in
Birmingham, AL.
4
In 1956, Rev. Shuttlesworth organized the Alabama
Christian Movement for Human Rights. In December,
of that year, the Supreme Court ruled that bus
segregation in Montgomery, AL was illegal.
Immediately, Rev. Shuttlesworth announced that
the ACMHR would test segregation laws in
Birmingham, the largest city in the state.
5
As president of this newly organized movement,
Rev. Shuttlesworth uttered these prophetic words
they can outlaw an organization, but they cannot
outlaw the movement of a people determined to be
free.
6
Rev. Shuttlesworth's civil rights activities made
him a target of white racists, and on the evening
of 25th December, 1956, he survived a bomb blast
that destroyed his house.
The Ku Klux Klan blew up his home with 16 sticks
of dynamite.
The floor beneath him was blown away.
He emerged unscathed.
7
The following year a mob beat Rev. Shuttlesworth
with whips and chains during an attempt to enroll
his daughters in an all-white public high school
in Birmingham.
8
During this period, Dr. Martin Luther King
described Rev. Shuttlesworth as "the most
courageous civil rights fighter in the South".
9
In 1957, Rev. Shuttlesworth joined Martin Luther
King, Ralph Abernathy and Bayard Rustin to form
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC).
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, the main objective of
the SCLC was to coordinate and assist local
organizations working for the full equality of
African Americans.
The new organization was committed to using
nonviolence in the struggle for civil rights, and
adopted the motto "Not one hair of one head of
one person should be harmed."
Rev. Shuttlesworth served as SCLC's secretary
from 1958-1970.
10
In 1960, Rev. Shuttlesworth participated in the
sit-in protests against segregated lunch
counters.
In 1961, he helped the Congress on Racial
Equality (CORE) organize its Freedom Rides.
11
Reverend Shuttlesworth is probably best known for
leading the mass demonstrations against
segregation in Birmingham. He had many run-ins
with Eugene "Bull" Connor, the Birmingham
commissioner of safety who used tactics such as
fire hoses and dogs to stop protesters.
In May, 1963, firefighters used a 75 mph stream
of water from a fire hose to pin Rev.
Shuttlesworth against an outside wall of the
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. After being
knocked off his feet by the impact, he was
hospitalized for his injuries.
12
In March 1965, Rev. Shuttlesworth helped organize
the historic march from Selma to Montgomery. The
march was organized to protest voting
discrimination in Alabama.
13
All of these actions helped create the pressures
that led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the
Voting Rights Act of 1965, which were central to
the end of legalized segregation in the South.
They also led to advances in civil rights for
many groups over the second half of the century.
14
Howard K. Smith, Commentator for the May, 1961
National Televised Documentary, Who Speaks For
Birmingham, called Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth
The man most feared by the Southern racist.
He further described him as follows
No history written on the Civil Rights Movement
would be complete unless it included the name of
Rev. Shuttlesworth, Pastor of the Greater New
Light Baptist Church, Cincinnati, Ohio. Rev.
Shuttlesworth has given more of himself for the
Cause of Freedom than any man living today.
15
Reverend Shuttlesworth has been

• bombed --twice

• beaten by racists

• jailed more than 25 times

• involved in more than 36 criminal and civil
  actions

• sued for 3.5 million dollars, losing all of his
  property including his automobile

Yet, he is more determined than ever to see the
Birmingham struggle, which is now a nationwide
Civil Rights struggle, end in victory.
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Reverend Shuttlesworth has continued his work for
social justice ever since, as

• pastor of the Greater New Light Baptist Church
• director of the Shuttlesworth Housing
• Foundation, an organization which helps low-
• income families to buy their own homes
• Executive Director and CEO of the SCLC

He spent a great deal of time during the last
election making sure that people who thought they
were registered to vote actually were.