[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 51 (Monday, April 25, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S4181]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                  HONORING REVEREND FRED SHUTTLESWORTH

 Mr. TALENT. Mr. President, I honor Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, 
who is a key leader in the civil rights movement and continues to be a 
guiding light in his community. I am honored that Reverend 
Shuttlesworth is visiting Missouri on April 29, and I want to 
commemorate his visit by briefly sharing some of his accomplishments.
  Reverend Shuttlesworth grew up in Birmingham, AL, and graduated from 
Alabama State University in 1951. After graduating, he continued to do 
graduate work at Alabama State and then received seminary training at 
Cedar Grove Academy and Selma University. His involvement in civil 
rights has been grounded in his belief that ``a man should not be 
judged by the color of his skin any more than he is judged by the color 
of his eyes.''
  In 1953, at the age of 30, Reverend Shuttlesworth became pastor of 
the Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham, during the period of time when 
the city earned the nickname ``Bombingham'' for the black homes that 
were bombed by white supremacists. In May 1956, Reverend Shuttlesworth 
helped lead a group of ministers to establish the Alabama Christian 
Movement for Human Rights, in response to the NAACP being outlawed in 
Alabama.
  Reverend Shuttlesworth, on many occasions, nearly became a martyr of 
the Civil Rights Movement. On Christmas Day 1956, as Reverend 
Shuttlesworth prepared to lead protests against the segregation of 
Birmingham's buses, someone threw a bomb under his bed in the parsonage 
of his church, where he was talking to a visiting deacon. Miraculously, 
he was unharmed.
  Undeterred, in 1957 Reverend Shuttlesworth joined with Dr. Martin 
Luther King, Reverend Ralph David Abernathy and Bayard Rustin to form 
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which was firmly 
committed to using nonviolence to advocate for Civil Rights despite the 
violence that was being committed against its members. He would later 
help to organize sit-ins against segregated lunch counters and was a 
key leader of the mass protests and demonstrations in Birmingham during 
the spring of 1963. During those tumultuous times, Reverend 
Shuttlesworth was also assaulted by police dogs, knocked unconscious by 
a fire hose, and jailed more than 35 times.
  Reverend Shuttlesworth moved to Cincinnati, where he founded the 
Greater New Light Baptist Church in 1966, and today he continues to 
serve as Pastor. In 1988, Reverend Shuttlesworth established the 
Shuttlesworth Housing Foundation to help needy families access capital 
for down payments for the purchase of homes. His efforts have helped 
hundreds of low-income families in the Cincinnati area to become 
homeowners.
  These are just a portion of the good works that this outstanding 
servant of God has done to help make our Nation more just. I commend 
Reverend Shuttlesworth for his outstanding contributions to the cause 
of civil rights for all Americans. I am honored to share his story with 
my colleagues, and I wish him and his family all the best for the 
future.

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