Freddie Lee Shuttlesworth (born Freddie Lee Robinson, March 18, 1922 – October 5, 2011) was an American Baptist minister and civil rights activist who led fights against segregation and other forms of racism, during the civil rights movement. He often worked with Martin Luther King Jr., although they did not always agree on tactics and approaches.
In 1957, along with Martin Luther King Jr., Shuttlesworth was a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 1961, he took up a pastorate in Cincinnati, Ohio to work against racism, and on behalf of homeless people, but remained active in Birmingham. In 1963, he initiated and was instrumental in the Birmingham Campaign. He returned from Cincinnati to Birmingham after his retirement in 2007.
The Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport was named in his honor in 2008, and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award is bestowed annually in his name.
Early life Born to an African American family in Mount Meigs, Alabama on March 18, 1922, Shuttlesworth attended Rosedale High School from which he graduated as the valedictorian.Albert, Melissa. "Fred Shuttlesworth Americans Minister And Civil Rights Activist". Encyclopedia Britannica, March 14, 2019. He studied at Selma University, earning his B.A. in 1951, and later earned his B.S. from Alabama State University.
Ministry and civil rights activism Shuttlesworth got his license as a country preacher when he was changing from a Methodist to a Baptist Christian.The JBHE Foundation. "Fred Shuttleworth: The Man Who Pushed Martin Luther King Jr. Into Greatness". Fred Shuttleworth: He Pushed Martin Luther King Jr. Into Greatness, October 15, 2001, pp. 61–64. The JBHE Foundation, . He became pastor of the Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1953 and was Membership Chairman of the Alabama state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1956, when the State of Alabama formally outlawed it from operating within the state.
Alabama Christian Movement for Civil Rights
In May 1956, Shuttlesworth and Ed Gardner established the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights to take up the work formerly done by the NAACP. The ACMHR raised almost all of its funds from local sources at mass meetings. It used both litigation and direct action to pursue its goals. When the authorities ignored the ACMHR's demand that the City hire black police officers, the organization sued. Similarly, when the United States Supreme Court ruled in December 1956 that bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama, was unconstitutional, Shuttlesworth announced that the ACMHR would challenge segregation laws in Birmingham on December 26, 1956.
Murder attempts On December 25, 1956, an attempt was made on Shuttlesworth's life by placing sixteen sticks of dynamite under his bedroom window. He escaped unhurt although his house was heavily damaged. A police officer, who also belonged to the Ku Klux Klan, told Shuttlesworth as he came out of his home, "If I were you I'd get out of town as quick as I could". Shuttlesworth told him to tell the Klan that he was not leaving and "I wasn't raised to run."
When Shuttlesworth and his wife Ruby attempted to enroll their children in John Herbert Phillips High School,CBS, director. The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom Civil Rights Activist Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth on Bombings and Beatings in 1950s Birmingham. Library of Congress/The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom, CBS News, May 18, 1961, www.loc.gov/exhibits/civil-rights-act/multimedia/fred-shuttlesworth.html. a previously all-white public school in Birmingham in the summer of 1957,CBS, director J. Mills Thornton III. Dividing Lines: Municipal Politics and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma. Vol. 733, The University of Alabama Press, 2002. a mob of Klansmen attacked them, with the police nowhere to be seen. The mob beat Shuttlesworth with "chains, baseball bats and brass knuckles, and his wife was stabbed in the hips". His assailants included Bobby Frank Cherry, who six years later was involved in the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing. Shuttlesworth drove himself and his wife to the hospital, where he told his children to "always forgive".
In 1958, Shuttlesworth survived another attempt on his life. A church member standing guard saw a bomb that had been placed beside the church and quickly moved it to the street before it went off.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
In 1957, Shuttlesworth, along with Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy from Montgomery, Joseph Lowery from Mobile, Alabama, T. J. Jemison from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Charles Kenzie Steele from Tallahassee, Florida, A. L. Davis from New Orleans, Louisiana, Bayard Rustin and Ella Baker founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The SCLC adopted a motto to underscore its commitment to nonviolence: "Not one hair of one head of one person should be harmed."
Shuttlesworth embraced that philosophy, even though his own personality was combative, headstrong and sometimes blunt-spoken to the point that he frequently antagonized his colleagues in the Civil Rights Movement as well as his opponents. He was not shy in asking King to take a more active role in leading the fight against segregation and warning that history would not look kindly on those who gave "flowery speeches" but did not act on them. He alienated some members of his congregation by devoting as much time as he did to the movement at the expense of weddings, funerals, and other ordinary church functions.
As a result, in 1961, Shuttlesworth moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, to take up the pastorage of the Revelation Baptist Church. He remained intensely involved in the Birmingham campaign after moving to Cincinnati, and frequently returned to help lead actions.
Shuttlesworth was apparently personally fearless, even though he was aware of the risks he ran. Other committed activists were scared off or mystified by his willingness to accept the risk of death. Shuttlesworth himself vowed to "kill segregation or be killed by it".
Decades later, when Shuttlesworth was named president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in August 2004, he resigned later in the year, complaining that "deceit, mistrust and a lack of spiritual discipline and truth have eaten at the core of this once-hallowed organization".
Birmingham Terminal Station was built with segregated waiting areas to comply with Jim Crow laws. Challenges to this segregation began in the 1950s, leading to a 1957 lawsuit and a court order to desegregate the station in 1961. That same year, Fred Shuttlesworth and his wife protested by entering the white waiting room before boarding a train. Though police escorted them safely, white integrationist Lamar Weaver was attacked by protesters after speaking with Shuttlesworth.
Freedom Rides Shuttlesworth participated in the sit-ins against segregated lunch counters in 1960 and took part in the organization and completion of the Freedom Rides in 1961. Shuttlesworth originally warned that Alabama was extremely volatile when he was consulted before the Freedom Rides began. Shuttlesworth noted that he respected the courage of the activists proposing the Rides but that he felt other actions could be taken to accelerate the Civil Rights Movement that would be less dangerous.Arsenault, Raymond (2006). Freedom riders: 1961 and the struggle for racial justice. Oxford UP. p. 106. . However, the planners of the Rides were undeterred and decided to continue preparing.
After it became certain that the Freedom Rides were to be carried out, Shuttlesworth worked with the Congress of Racial Equality (C.O.R.E.) to organize the RidesAfrican American Registry. "Fred Shuttlesworth, Minister and Leader!" . and became engaged with ensuring the success of the rides, especially during their stint in Alabama. Shuttlesworth mobilized some of his fellow clergy to assist the rides. After the Riders were badly beaten and nearly killed in Birmingham and Anniston during the Rides, he sent deacons to pick up the Riders from a hospital in Anniston.
He himself had been brutalized earlier in the day and had faced down the threat of being thrown out of the hospital by the hospital superintendent.Arsenault, Raymond (2006). Freedom riders: 1961 and the struggle for racial justice. Oxford UP. p. 148. . Shuttlesworth took in the Freedom Riders at the Bethel Baptist Church, allowing them to recuperate after the violence that had occurred earlier in the day.Arsenault, Raymond (2006). Freedom riders: 1961 and the struggle for racial justice. Oxford UP. pp. 159–62. .
The violence in Anniston and Birmingham almost led to a quick end to the Freedom Rides. However, the actions of supporters like Shuttlesworth gave James Farmer, the leader of C.O.R.E., which had originally organized the Freedom Rides, and other activists the courage to press forward.Arsenault, Raymond (2006). Freedom riders: 1961 and the struggle for racial justice. Oxford UP. pp. 166–9. . After the violence that occurred in Alabama but before the Freedom Riders could move on, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy gave Shuttlesworth his personal phone number in case the Freedom Riders needed federal support.Arsenault, Raymond (2006). Freedom riders: 1961 and the struggle for racial justice. Oxford UP. pp. 170–1. .
When Shuttlesworth prepared the Riders to leave Birmingham and they reached the Greyhound Terminal, the Riders found themselves stranded as no bus driver was willing to drive the controversial group into Mississippi. Shuttlesworth stuck with the RidersThe Birmingham News (February 26, 2006). "The Road to Change". . and called Kennedy. Prompted by Shuttlesworth, Kennedy tried to find a replacement bus driver, although his efforts eventually proved unsuccessful. The Riders then decided to take a plane to New Orleans (where they had planned on finishing the Rides) and were assisted by Shuttlesworth in getting to the airport and onto the plane.Arsenault, Raymond (2006). Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice. Oxford University Press. p. 172. .
Shuttlesworth's commitment to the Freedom Rides was highlighted by Diane Nash, a student activist in the Nashville Student Movement and a major organizer of the later waves of Rides. Nash noted, Fred was practically a legend. I think it was important – for me, definitely, and for a city of people who were carrying on a movement – for there to be somebody that really represented strength, and that's certainly what Fred did. He would not back down, and you could count on it. He would not sell out, [and] you could count on that.
The students involved in the Rides appreciated Shuttlesworth's commitment to the principles of the Freedom Rides – ending the segregationist laws of the Jim Crow South. Shuttlesworth's fervent passion for equality made him a role model to many of the Riders.
Project C
Shuttlesworth invited SCLC and King to come to Birmingham in 1963 to lead the campaign to desegregate it through mass demonstrations–what Shuttlesworth called "Project C", the "C" standing for "confrontation". While Shuttlesworth was willing to negotiate with political and business leaders for peaceful abandonment of segregation, he believed, with good reason, that they would not take any steps that they were not forced to take. He suspected their promises could not be trusted until they acted on them.
One of the 1963 demonstrations he led resulted in Shuttlesworth's being convicted of parading without a permit from the City Commission. On appeals the case reached the US Supreme Court. In its 1969 decision of Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham, the Supreme Court reversed Shuttlesworth's conviction, determining that circumstances indicated that the parade permit was denied not to control traffic, as the state contended, but to censor ideas.