How would you like to be the target of bombing two times, be arrested 35 times, knocked unconscious and have your wife stabbed? And for what? Because you were a black man in the 1950's and 60's in Birmingham, Alabama who was intelligent, tough, energetic, relentless and who dedicated your entire adult life to addressing racial injustice, bigotry and segregation in the south and in America ! Well if you were describing Fred Shuttlesworth...You described him perfectly.
In 1957 he joined with Martin Luther King and Ralph David Abernathy to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Not as well known as King and Abernathy, Shuttlesworth energized by Brown vs. Board of Education, was the most aggressive of the three, while King was the most public and conciliatory. Their efforts in 1963 resulted in massive demonstrations in Birmingham.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 became law and the rest is history. While the "civil rights movement " was well planned and was supported by the efforts of thousands, Shuttlesworth gave his all(and more) to end segregation and racial injustice . Now that was a "man"!
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