Black History Month #7: Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth

Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, mugshot, May 25, 1961, Montgomery, Alabama

Black History Month #7: Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth

Jet, March 22, 1962
On the cover: Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, civil rights activist

Fred Shuttlesworth was a civil rights pioneer, a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the architect of the 1963 Campaign C protests in Birmingham. He once vowed to “kill segregation or be killed by it,” and was bombed and beaten and survived several murder attempts. As one commentator said, “he didn’t become a martyr, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.” Shuttlesworth passed away on October 5, 2011 at the age of 89.

Appreciation from The New Yorker on Fred Shuttlesworth

I Wasn’t Saved to Run: Fred Shuttlesworth, 1922-2011

Happy Birthday Norman Rockwell

Norman Rockwell: “The Problem We All Live With” (1964)

The painting shows Ruby Bridges, the girl who integrated the New Orleans schools in 1960. 

Source: Norman Rockwell and the Civil Rights Paintings

Cover of the Day, 10/10/11

Time, April 6, 1970
Cover art: Jacob Lawrence

October 8 was Jesse Jackson’s 70th birthday

Cover of the Day, 10/6/11

Jet, March 22, 1962
“What Being in Jail Taught Shuttlesworth”
Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, Birmingham, Alabama minister and civil rights hero, passed away on October 5.

Obituary: New York Times