Fred Shuttlesworth

Born March 18, 1922, in Mugler, Alabama

Fred Shuttlesworth (March 18, 1922 – ) was born in Alabama. After graduating from Selma University (1951) and Alabama State College (1952), Shuttlesworth became pastor of the Bethel Baptist Church in 1953. In May 1956, Shuttlesworth established the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR). In December 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation in Montgomery was illegal. Immediately, Shuttlesworth announced that the ACMHR would test segregation laws in Birmingham. On Christmas Day, 1956, Shuttlesworth's home was bombed, but he escaped unhurt.

In 1957 Shuttlesworth joined Martin Luther King, Ralph David 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 SCLC adopted the motto: "Not one hair of one head of one person should be harmed." Shuttlesworth's civil rights activities made him a target of white racists and on the evening of December 25, 1956, Shuttlesworth survived a bomb blast that destroyed his house. The following year, a white mob beat Shuttlesworth with whips and chains during an attempt to integrate an all-white public school. During this period Martin Luther King described Shuttlesworth as "the most courageous civil rights fighter in the South." In 1960 Shuttlesworth participated in the sit-in protests against segregated lunch counters, and in 1961 helped Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) organize its Freedom Rides. He also led the mass demonstrations against segregation in Birmingham. He was hospitalized in May 1963 after being slammed against a wall by water from fire hoses. In 1966 Shuttlesworth became pastor of the Greater New Light Baptist Church. In 1988 he established and also served as director of the Shuttlesworth Housing Foundation, an organization that helps low-income families buy their own homes.
Shuttlesworth still works at the Greater New Light Baptist Church, and so far his Shuttlesworth Housing Foundation has assisted 460 low-income families.