Who is shuttlesworth

Abernathy, would later be seen as one of the movement's "Big Three. After the desegregation of Montgomery busses due to the citywide boycott inspired by Rosa Parks, Shuttlesworth was organizing efforts in his city to implement bus desegregation as well when his residence was bombed on Christmas, with the pastor inside.

He nonetheless steadfastly proceeded with plans; later, when he and his wife took their daughter to integrate a white school, the couple were brutally attacked by a Ku Klux Klan mob.

Shuttlesworth held fast to his firm belief in direct action and was a key leader throughout the history of the movement, though he had relocated to Cincinnati in the early s and hence routinely travelled back to the South. After the May 14, , attacks on the Freedom Riders, Shuttlesworth provided refuge for the activists, with outreach made to Attorney General Robert Kennedy for assistance.

He also convinced Dr. King to have Birmingham become a focal point of the movement and organized well-documented youth-driven marches and protests, in which he was badly hurt at one point in And Shuttlesworth was an organizer of the Selma to Montgomery voting rights march.

Shuttlesworth was arrested many, many times over the course of his activism, yet in later interviews would talk about the power of his faith in sustaining him. Fast forward to the s, and he founded another organization, the Shuttlesworth Housing Foundation, providing grants for home ownership.

This law effectively ended segregation in public accommodations in the United States, and with the Voting Rights Act of , formed the legislative high-water marks of the civil rights movement. When meeting with King, Shuttlesworth, and others on the day he introduced the bill, Kennedy remarked, "But for Birmingham, we would not be here today.

Shuttlesworth Arrest After the mids, Shuttleworth's civil rights activities continued both locally and nationally, but he kept in close touch with Birmingham's African American community.

Working with Birmingham's first black mayor, Richard Arrington , Shuttlesworth helped bring to fruition the establishment of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and Museum , where a statue of Shuttlesworth greets thousands of visitors every year. In he established the Shuttlesworth Housing Foundation, which helps low-income Cincinnatians purchase their first homes. From to he served as interim president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

He outlived King and many other leaders of the black freedom struggle and became an icon of the movement, recounting his exploits in Martin Luther King Day speeches and admonishing the nation to continue the work toward racial harmony and justice. Shuttlesworth died on October 5, , in Birmingham. Additional Resources Eskew, Glenn T. Manis, Andrew M. In , while leading a protest against segregation in Birmingham, Shuttlesworth was slammed against a wall by the force of the water pressure from fire hoses turned on demonstrators at the order of local sheriff Bull Connor.

The minister was hospitalized but undeterred. Shuttlesworth carried on his fight against racism and homelessness after moving to Cincinnati, Ohio, in the early s. Shuttlesworth went on to help organize the historic march from Selma to Montgomery in In December , on the heels of the U. Supreme Court decision striking down racial segregation on public transportation in Montgomery, Shuttlesworth and the ACMHR announced plans to challenge similar restrictions in Birmingham with a protest.

The following year, Shuttlesworth became a co-founder—along with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He played an integral role in the Freedom Rides, aimed at desegregating public transportation facilities throughout the South. Aware that the Riders faced threats of violence, he mobilized local clergy in an attempt to provide them with safe passage through the state—and later offered many of them sanctuary after the brutal physical reprisals he had feared came to pass.