Civil Rights Leader, Icon and pioneer Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth passed away in Birmingham, Alabama Wednesday afternoon (October 5). He was 89.
Shuttlesworth worked alongside Rev. Martin Luther King in the 1950s and 60s with the SCLC organization and was arrested numerous times for his non-violent Civil Rights protests in the South. As the pastor of the Bethel Baptist Church, he survived two bombings, as well as a bombing at his home which almost killed him. He was also badly beaten by KKK members in 1957, while attempting to enroll his children in an all-white school.
Mr. Shuttlesworth received the Presidential Citizen’s Medal in 2001 from President Clinton for his leadership and also met with then Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2007 to commemorate the 1965 ‘Bloody Sunday’ Voting Rights march in Selma, Alabama. After a stroke in 2008, Shuttlesworth moved from Ohio back to Birmingham.
Make sure to check out this video below of Rev. Shuttlesworth in his own words.
Rest in Peace to this true Civil Rights Icon and leader.
