Bombed, beaten and repeatedly arrested in the fight for civil rights, Rev. Martin Shuttlesworth has died at the age of 89
WTVA News reports Shuttlesworth, a former truck driver became pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., in 1953 and hailed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for his courage and energy. "My church was a beehive," Shuttlesworth once said, "I made the movement. I made the challenge, Birmingham was the citadel of segregation and the people wanted to march."
In Rev. Martin Luther King’s book "Why We Can’t Wait," published by Signet in 1964, King called Shuttlesworth "one of the nation’s most courageous freedom fighters."
USA Today reports described in a 1961 CBS documentary as "the man most feared by Southern racists," Shuttlesworth survived a 156 bombing, an assault during a 1957 demonstration, chest injuries when Birmingham authorities turned fire hoses on demonstrators in 1963 and countless arrests. "I went to jail 30 or 40 times, not for fighting or stealing or drugs, "Shuttlesworth told grade school students in 1197. "I went to jail for a good thing, trying to make a difference."
According to ABC Local reports Shuttlesworth frequently visited and remained active in the movement in Alabama even after moving in 1961 to Cincinnati, where he was pastor for most of the next 47 years. Moving back to Birmingham in February 2008 for rehabilitation after a mild stroke.
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