[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 149 (Thursday, October 6, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H6665-H6669]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          HONORING THE LIFE OF REVEREND FRED LEE SHUTTLESWORTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 5, 2011, the gentlewoman from Alabama (Ms. Sewell) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Ms. SEWELL. Mr. Speaker, during this CBC Special Order hour, we're 
going to honor the life and legacy of Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth. And 
I rise today to pay tribute to a great civil rights leader, Reverend 
Fred Lee Shuttlesworth, who passed away yesterday at the age of 89.
  Reverend Shuttlesworth was a passionate advocate for equal rights and 
a courageous Freedom Rider. He was one of the leaders of the civil 
rights movement in Birmingham, Alabama, and a cofounder of the Southern 
Christian Leadership Conference, SCLC. Martin Luther King considered 
Reverend Shuttlesworth the most courageous civil rights fighter in the 
South.
  Born in Mount Meigs, Alabama, on March 18, 1922, Reverend 
Shuttlesworth

[[Page H6666]]

was raised in Birmingham, Alabama. Brought up by his tough-minded 
mother, Mrs. Alberta Robinson Shuttlesworth Webb, Reverend 
Shuttlesworth developed a very powerful personality that prepared him 
for his civil rights leadership in Alabama.
  Reverend Shuttlesworth was a bright student and graduated 
valedictorian of his class at Rosedale High School in 1940. 
Shuttlesworth was compassionate. He was captivating, both as a student, 
and then later as a minister. He was captivated by the Baptist 
denomination and felt called to the ministry. He graduated from Alabama 
State College--now known as Alabama State University--in 1952 and 
became the pastor of the historic First Baptist Church in Selma, 
Alabama. In 1953, Reverend Shuttlesworth took over as pastor of Bethel 
Baptist Church in North Birmingham, Alabama.
  Reverend Shuttlesworth soon became the most publicized crusader in 
the history of Birmingham, Alabama. He became active in the voter 
registration efforts of the NAACP and in the Civic League's attempts to 
clean up saloons. In 1955, Reverend Shuttlesworth supported the 
Montgomery Bus Boycott that was set in motion by Rosa Parks' refusal to 
give up her seat.
  When an Alabama Circuit Court injunction stopped the NAACP's 
operation in the State of Alabama, Reverend Shuttlesworth founded the 
Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights in June of 1956. The weekly 
meetings of this wonderful organization became the mouthpiece for the 
masses of African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama, for over a decade.
  In 1957, Reverend Shuttlesworth helped fellow ministers and civil 
rights leaders Martin Luther King, Jr., and Ralph David Abernathy found 
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which became the most 
important civil rights organization in the South during the 1960s.
  Reverend Shuttlesworth was an inspiration to other activists because 
of his strong commitment to the fight for equality, which often put him 
and his family in harm's way. He was the target of two bombings. When 
Shuttlesworth and his wife attempted to enroll their children in a 
previously all-white Birmingham public school in 1957, a mob of 
Klansmen attacked him. Shuttlesworth was beaten with chains and brass 
knuckles in the streets while someone stabbed his wife during this 
altercation.
  His personal courage and sacrifice encouraged others to join the 
movement as well. 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.
  Reverend Shuttlesworth willingly stood up against the brutal tactics 
of Public Safety Commissioner Eugene ``Bull'' Connor, as he was known, 
in the fight for civil rights. The civil rights movement climaxed in 
1963 when Shuttlesworth convinced Martin Luther King, Jr., and the SCLC 
to come to Birmingham, Alabama, for a massive campaign against 
segregation. In response to the campaign, Bull Connor released police 
dogs on activists and had activists sprayed with intense fire hose 
streams so powerful they could knock bark off a tree from 100 feet 
away.
  These egregious actions were captured on national television and 
published in newspapers across this country. The national attention led 
to Federal intervention and the signing of the Civil Rights Bill of 
1964 and, later, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by President Lyndon 
Baines Johnson.
  Reverend Shuttlesworth was at the heart of this monumental victory as 
he poured his soul into the civil rights movement. Although 
Shuttlesworth remained active in the movement in Alabama and regularly 
visited, he did move in 1961 to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was a pastor 
for most of the next 47 years. In Cincinnati, Shuttlesworth became the 
pastor of the Greater New Light Baptist Church in 1966 and worked to 
continue his work to fight against racism and for the alleviation of 
the problems of the homeless until he retired in 2007.
  Upon his retirement, Reverend Shuttlesworth moved back to Birmingham, 
Alabama.
  I know that the City of Birmingham is very proud of its native son 
and the role he played in the civil rights movement. In 1988, the 
Birmingham City Council approved an order to rename a 4-mile stretch of 
road F.L. Shuttlesworth Drive. In addition, the City of Birmingham 
erected a statue of Reverend Shuttlesworth outside the Civil Rights 
Institute when it opened in 1992. The Birmingham Airport Authority also 
renamed the Birmingham International Airport the Birmingham-
Shuttlesworth International Airport in his honor.
  On behalf of a grateful Nation, Reverend Shuttlesworth was presented 
with the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Bill Clinton on 
January 8, 2001.
  Mr. Shuttlesworth was married to Sephira Bailey Shuttlesworth, and he 
was the proud father of four--Patricia, Ruby, Fred, Jr., and Carolyn. 
He also leaves behind 11 grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.
  Now, over the years, Reverend Shuttlesworth has distinguished himself 
and been honored by numerous awards. His leadership that he showed this 
Nation in fighting against racism is second to none.
  The people of the Seventh Congressional District of Alabama--that I 
am so grateful to represent--commends him for his wonderful efforts. 
And as the first black Congresswoman elected from the State of Alabama, 
I know I stand on the shoulders of Reverend Shuttlesworth. I would not 
be here today had it not been for his sacrifice and the sacrifice of so 
many.

                              {time}  1540

  His commitment to the racial equality and justice for all is a 
message that will inspire people for generations to come.
  I, therefore, Representative to this U.S. Congress from the Seventh 
Congressional District of Alabama, do hereby recognize Reverend Fred 
Lee Shuttlesworth for his numerous contributions, not only to the 
Seventh Congressional District and the State of Alabama but to our 
wonderful Nation.
  I ask those present today to join me in honoring Reverend 
Shuttlesworth and commending him for his many achievements on behalf of 
a grateful Nation. I know that many of my colleagues will join me 
during this hour to commemorate his life and legacy.
  I now yield time to our CBC chairman, the gentleman from Missouri, 
Emanuel Cleaver, for his comments on Reverend Shuttlesworth's wonderful 
life.
  Mr. CLEAVER. Let me first thank the gentlewoman from Alabama for her 
vision in speaking of one of America's great men.
  Shortly after Martin Luther King was killed in Memphis, Tennessee, I, 
just leaving college, became very active with the Southern Christian 
Leadership Conference. At that time, Ralph Abernathy had taken over 
leadership of the organization, and Joe Lowery had become the chair of 
the board. And a short time after that, Walter Fauntroy, who served as 
the delegate for the District of Columbia, became the chair of the 
board. And prior to that he was the SCLC Washington Bureau Chief.
  So I became actively involved. I considered Fred Shuttlesworth as a 
mentor. Fred Shuttlesworth had a remarkable life in that he was a great 
preacher. But as people who knew him will tell you, he was not afraid 
of anything, and sometimes that did not work to his benefit.
  Fred Shuttlesworth was in his home when the Klan blew it up. Reverend 
Shuttlesworth ended up down in the basement, but if the Klan had 
believed that blowing up his home would get him to back away from a 
movement to bring dignity and civil rights to people in this country, 
they were wrong.
  And Fred Shuttlesworth was so tough that it was often said that when 
God allowed Bull Connor to be born, that he also made Fred 
Shuttlesworth to serve as his even change. Fred Shuttlesworth was in 
many confrontations with the legendary and infamous Bull Connor.
  One of the things that I think people need to remember is that, of 
the people involved in the founding of the Southern Christian 
Leadership Conference, which was Martin Luther King, Ralph Abernathy, 
Fred Shuttlesworth, some people include C.K. Steele, is that 
Shuttlesworth was perhaps the roughest of the group. He went to college 
late. He was a man who's physical stature was almost amazing. Even when 
he went into his eighties, Fred Shuttlesworth could slide on a pair of

[[Page H6667]]

pants and a shirt and there would be no bulge. He had one of those 
amazing bodies where he always looked fit, even into his eighties.
  But the thing that I want to say about Reverend Shuttlesworth is that 
there was never a challenge that caused Fred Shuttlesworth to back 
away. There was no threat strong enough that Fred Shuttlesworth would 
seek cover. He was always out front, willing to take whatever came his 
way in order to pursue the fight for justice.
  When I was elected mayor of Kansas City, one of the highlights of my 
time in office was Fred Shuttlesworth visiting Kansas City and coming 
into my office and getting excited because on the wall in my office 
hung a photograph, an enlarged photograph which showed Fred 
Shuttlesworth and a large number of other civil rights leaders and 
giants who I was just pleased to be around hanging on the wall prior to 
a march we had done in Greene County, Alabama. And I was so thrilled 
that Fred Shuttlesworth could come to my office and see his photograph 
hanging and know how much I appreciated him.
  Let me just say this--and I'll pass this on--Fred Shuttlesworth 
preached at the church I have been fortunate to pastor for over 30 
years. And each time he would come in and he'd say, now, Cleaver, I 
want to show you how you can preach a long sermon. And his strategy was 
this: after about 30 minutes, he would say, and wink at me, I'm about 
to wrap up now. And he said, then people would listen to him waiting 
because they knew he was about to wrap up. And then 10 or 15 minutes 
later he'd say, I'm on my way out now. I'm closing out. So Fred 
Shuttlesworth could easily preach an hour and trick people two or three 
times. And that was what he called training me in how to preach a long 
sermon.
  And he preached at our church many times. In fact, the last time he 
preached there, which was probably 2 years ago, he was a little frail 
for the first time that I had ever been around him. And he was still 
fiery, as our colleague, John Lewis, will tell you. There was never a 
time that he did not have fire. In fact, his autobiography is entitled, 
``Fire Inside My Bones,'' which I have in my office.
  And he, I think, was the epitome of the civil rights struggle. He did 
a lot of struggling. He never made a lot of money. He never got a lot 
of publicity. There are probably people in the country who hear the 
name Fred Shuttlesworth and not know who he is.
  This morning I turned on MSNBC and saw his name being scrolled across 
the bottom of the television set, that the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, 
age 89, died in a Birmingham, Alabama, hospital. And I sat there 
thinking, you know, the great tragedy is that probably millions of 
people are looking at that and saying to themselves, I have no idea who 
Fred Shuttlesworth is.
  And I'm here to tell you, had there not been a Fred Shuttlesworth, 
there never would have been a Birmingham moment. Had there not been a 
Birmingham movement, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference would 
never have existed, which meant that Martin Luther King would have 
gotten his PhD and pastored a church, perhaps in Atlanta, Georgia, and 
nobody would have heard of him.
  So I take great pride in the opportunity to just talk about a friend 
and a mentor, the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, a great civil rights 
leader, a great Baptist preacher, and a great human being.
  Ms. SEWELL. Thank you so much. I was born in Selma, Alabama, and 
raised in Selma, and my home church is Brown Chapel AME Church. And I 
remember so many commemorations of the march from Selma to Montgomery 
always culminated on that Sunday when they commemorate Bloody Sunday in 
my church. And I can remember often seeing Reverend Shuttlesworth at 
Brown Chapel and crossing that Edmund Pettus Bridge that he did so 
often in those commemorations.
  My last time seeing him, he participated in a Faith in Politics 
luncheon that we had this past year, this past March and when I was so 
honored to co-host that Faith in Politics pilgrimage back to Alabama 
with Congressman Lewis.
  I know that my generation owes a debt of gratitude to the Freedom 
Riders, to the folks, the civil rights activists such as Reverend 
Shuttlesworth and John Lewis. We owe so much to them. We not only stand 
on their shoulders, but we pay honor and tribute to them always. They 
fought the good fight so that people like us could go to Ivy League 
schools, could walk the Halls of Congress, and I'm just forever 
grateful for their courage and their sacrifice.

                              {time}  1550

  I am equally thrilled to now yield time to Congressman John Lewis of 
Georgia. The gentleman from Georgia is one of my own personal heroes 
and will speak to knowing Fred Shuttlesworth personally and talk of the 
times in the sixties that they shared together. I am just immensely 
honored to be able to call Congressman Lewis a friend as well as 
colleague.
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend and 
colleague, Congresswoman Terri Sewell from Birmingham, for holding this 
Special Order. Thank you for representing the people of the Seventh 
Congressional District of Alabama, especially Birmingham and Selma.
  I grew up reading and hearing about Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, the 
man from Birmingham, Alabama. I grew up about 150 miles from Birmingham 
outside of a little town called Troy. The words of Fred Shuttlesworth, 
the actions of this man were so inspiring, I probably wouldn't be 
standing here today, I know I wouldn't be standing here today as a 
Member of Congress representing the good people of the Fifth District 
of Georgia if it hadn't been for individuals like Fred Shuttlesworth.
  The Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth is the last of a kind. He was a 
fearless, determined, courageous leader for civil rights and social 
justice. When others did not have the courage to stand up, speak up and 
speak out, Fred Shuttlesworth put all he had on the line to end 
segregation and racial discrimination not only in Birmingham but 
throughout the State of Alabama and throughout our Nation.
  As has been said so well before, he was beaten with chains, his home 
was bombed, his church was bombed, and he lived under constant threat 
of violence and murder; but he never, ever lost faith in the power of 
love to overcome hate.
  He escorted brave young children to desegregate public schools in 
Birmingham. In 1961, and I will never, ever forget it, when I was only 
21 years old, during the Freedom Rides, 50 years ago, when others were 
immobilized by fear, he was fearless and met us at the Greyhound bus 
station in Birmingham, Alabama, and welcomed us into his home. When we 
were trapped in the First Baptist Church a few days later, pastored by 
the Reverend Ralph Abernathy in downtown Montgomery, after we had been 
beaten by an angry mob and the church had been surrounded by 
individuals who tried to burn the church down, he stood up and he 
spoke. He gave us courage. He told us not to be afraid.
  He worked tirelessly beside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and others 
as he led the Birmingham Movement. In 1963 when Bull Connor, the 
commissioner of public safety, used dogs and fire hoses on peaceful 
protesters, including young children and women, Fred Shuttlesworth was 
there.
  And I will never forget, Congresswoman Sewell, when we went back to 
Selma in 2007, Fred Shuttlesworth wanted to cross that bridge one more 
time. He was unable to walk. He was in a wheelchair. Then-Senator 
Barack Obama pushed the chair across the bridge. Former President 
Clinton came and kneeled down at the chair in front of Fred 
Shuttlesworth to pay tribute and homage to him.
  This brave and courageous man must be remembered. In my estimation, 
he is one of the Founding Fathers of the New America. He helped 
liberate, not just the State of Alabama, not just the South, but he 
helped liberate America; and that's why we honor him. He helped change 
and made us a different people, made us stand up, walk, run, and march 
with pride. We owe him a debt of gratitude. He will be deeply missed.
  When we go back to Birmingham, or to Montgomery, or to Selma, or any 
part of the American South, we may see a statue at the Civil Rights 
Institute or Museum in Birmingham, but we will see Fred Shuttlesworth 
all over

[[Page H6668]]

the South and all over the Nation, because he helped bring down those 
signs that said White Men, Colored Men; White Women, Colored Women; 
White Waiting, Colored Waiting.
  America is different. America is better. And we are a better people 
because of this one brave, courageous man who had the audacity, had the 
ability, the capacity, to stand up and say, we will be free.
  He said over and over again, Emanuel Cleaver: ``Before I'll be a 
slave, I'll be buried in my grave and go home to my Lord and be free.'' 
That's the message of Fred Shuttlesworth. I hope all of our young 
people, black and white, Latinos, Asian Americans and Native Americans, 
will study the life of Fred Shuttlesworth.
  Thank you, Congresswoman Sewell.
  Ms. SEWELL. Thank you so much, Congressman Lewis.
  I also am always constantly in awe of our next presenter. I yield 
time to not only a wonderful sister in Congress but also a real leader 
in Congress, my mentor, the gentlelady from Texas, Sheila Jackson Lee.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Thank you so very much, Congresswoman 
Sewell, for allowing us to come to the floor of the House and be joyful 
even though someone has passed. I thank my previous speakers.
  John Lewis, we salute you always for continuing to be our chronicler, 
our voice, our steady, if you will, encyclopedia of today, yesterday 
and tomorrow, what we should be aiming toward as a Nation and as a 
people but also what we came through.
  And to stand next to this picture, thank you for allowing me to stand 
next to such a symbolic statement about who I would like to call 
Reverend Dr. Fred L. Shuttlesworth. Can I just stand here and say that 
I knew him? And as well can I say that I had the privilege of following 
way behind John Lewis's footsteps, Congresswoman Sewell, in working in 
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference at the time that Reverend 
Dr. Ralph David Abernathy was alive, that Hosea Williams was alive, 
that James Orange was alive, and certainly Fred Shuttlesworth was still 
on the battlefield in places around the Nation.
  So I want to say to his children and his wife and all of his great 
legacy in Alabama that he has given birth to much. This picture depicts 
a monumental statement, both of his status as an American and a 
patriot, both of what he created. Whether it was a young Senator to be 
President, President Barack Obama, pushing this icon's wheelchair as we 
commemorated the legacy of John Lewis, and that is the crossing of the 
Edmund Pettus Bridge, the time when those who spoke loudly on behalf of 
those who could not speak were brutalized and beaten to unconsciousness 
simply for the right to vote. Fred Shuttlesworth was known as a man 
that did not run away from danger. Fred Shuttlesworth joined Dr. Ralph 
David Abernathy and Martin Luther King and himself in pushing, shoving 
and pushing the movement in Alabama and around the Nation.
  At his side as a young man, a President who served this country for 8 
years, a Southerner, William Jefferson Clinton, who acknowledges that 
part of his great legacy or great opportunity was not only the meeting 
of President John F. Kennedy, but during his lifetime or his Presidency 
to correct many of the ills that occurred to African Americans and 
people of the slave history in this Nation, from the establishment of 
the African American Museum, to the honoring of so many, such as the 
Tuskegee Airmen, in terms of generating that as he spoke, to the 
honoring of civil rights leaders, to the bestowing of recognition on 
Rosa Parks.

                              {time}  1600

  There are so many things that this President, President Clinton, 
attempted to do because he got to know and he could understand the walk 
and the talk of Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth. I am grateful that we have 
the first African American woman Congressperson from Alabama, and I 
know that she told you of her family's legacy but also of the salt of 
the Earth that they are, Alabamans who knew of Reverend Fred L. 
Shuttlesworth's work.
  What I am most moved by is the fact that he acknowledges that his 
beginnings were on a farm, that he was raised by his stepfather and his 
mother. He came first to be a truck driver, and then got the word that 
he should go to a school, to the Cedar Grove Academy--a local Bible 
college--and begin the seeding of understanding in the Scriptures of 
much of what we who happen to be Christian believe in--but it can be 
found in so many faiths, from Judaism, to Islam, to Buddhism, and to 
many other faiths--this whole charitable role that you must take: that 
it is better to give to others than it is to give to yourself.
  Even though Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth was a feisty man, he would 
tell it to you. Don't get fooled by a wheelchair. He was a feisty man. 
He didn't take much to being offended. As John Lewis has taught us over 
the years, as we've traveled back to commemorate Bloody Sunday and how 
entrenched the movement was of nonviolence, Fred Shuttlesworth was 
willing to, in essence, concede his feistiness to be part of the 
movement he established first, the Alabama Christian Movement for Human 
Rights, and of course then to overcome its declaring of being 
unconstitutional and moving on to other creative ways to create and 
continue the movement.
  What I like most since John Lewis told us of the Freedom Rides--and 
that is an emotional experience, an emotional set of words to listen to 
because of the loss of life that attended to those college students and 
the others who got on buses from Ohio to Illinois, New York--places far 
from the South. They got on because they were driven by the rightness 
of the morality of those who were standing for the empowerment of those 
who had been brutalized. They came from far and wide. I don't know how 
one could stand by and watch buses be burned to a crisp or could watch 
those innocent Americans--young and with a great deal of hope--come to 
the Deep South and be bloodied and be attacked and spit upon.
  I note that tragic moment when they were brutalized so badly as they 
came into the area of Reverend Shuttlesworth. They were brutalized as a 
result of a famous name, though a name of great damage--Sheriff Bull 
Connor--with water cannons and the violence that he evidenced that woke 
up America.
  These brutalized Freedom Riders were, I guess, temporarily taken, 
John, to a hospital where Reverend Shuttlesworth was concerned about 
their safety. He didn't concern himself about his safety, but was 
concerned about theirs. So with a few deacons--and for those of you who 
understand our church structure, deacons are close to the pastor. They 
are as men who go with him through fire, storm, rain, and devastation. 
They went with him to carry these broken bodies out of the hospital, 
fearful for their lives. He took them to his church where, as many knew 
in the South, was not a place that was immune to violence, as was 
evidenced by the Birmingham bombing of a church that killed four little 
girls in a Sunday school class. But Reverend Shuttlesworth was not 
fearing his life. He wanted to make sure that those who had come to 
help them and us could be safe and would not be bombarded in the 
hospital and be threatened or in fear of their lives.
  Reverend Shuttlesworth, I want to thank you for allowing me to know 
you. I want to thank you for staying alive to be able to see the 
election of the first African American President of the United States. 
I am grateful that you stayed alive to see America at her best when, in 
2008, she came together and unshackled the devastation of race, the 
ugliness of race, and began to accept that strength and rightness of 
anyone who desired to be President.
  Reverend Shuttlesworth, as you lay in rest, let me again thank you 
for giving us courage, for being a friend to John Lewis, a friend to 
Martin and to Ralph David Abernathy and to James Orange and to many of 
the Freedom Riders and song singers that I get to see when I go for 
that commemoration.
  What I would say in closure, Dr. Shuttlesworth, is that you wanted us 
to be engaged in fighting for people who could not speak for 
themselves. I would imagine that you would want us to pass and vote for 
the American Jobs Act. I imagine that you would not be accusatory as to 
why people are unemployed and are not rich. I imagine you would be 
sympathetic to the people in the streets today, now Thursday, October 
6, 2011, and I imagine you would

[[Page H6669]]

say, Keep on keeping on. I imagine you would say, Have no fear, because 
our great friend Dr. Martin Luther King told us of a mountaintop, and 
he said the pathway to the Promised Land would not be easy. He said in 
his dying days, or in the last hours toward the end of his life, that 
he had seen the Promised Land. You still lived at that time, and he 
told us that he might not get there but that he knew that, as a people, 
as this Nation, we would get to the Promised Land someday.
  Reverend Dr. Shuttlesworth, you have gone on, and we recognize that 
our people are hurting, and that they're in the streets and that 
they're all colors and backgrounds and religions in all areas of this 
country. You realize that we are lucky enough to have Congresswoman 
Sewell and John Lewis out of Alabama, and now Atlanta. You recognize 
that you pass your mantle on, but you are hoping that we are not giving 
up and that we will always stay steadfast and that we'll fight for 
those who cannot speak and are yet unborn.
  For you, Reverend Shuttlesworth, I will be courageous enough to take 
whatever comes, whatever comes life's way, whatever threatens my life, 
for it is important to note that there is something greater than life, 
and it is to make sure that people have an opportunity. I hope someday 
we'll have the ability to bring this Nation together again and not be 
wallowing in the divisiveness of Tea Parties and ``No'' parties and 
people who don't recognize what America is all about.
  Reverend Shuttlesworth, you saw only what was right and what was 
just. I bless you, and will say to you that you are a warrior that has 
fought a good fight. Thank you for that fight. May you rest in peace.
  To your family, God bless you, and God bless this warrior, and God 
bless the United States of America.
  Ms. SEWELL. I would like to thank all of my colleagues for 
participating in this Special Order hour, celebrating the life and 
legacy of such a great Alabaman, of such a great American, Reverend 
Fred Lee Shuttlesworth.
  To his family--his wife and children and grandchildren--I want to say 
thank you on behalf of a grateful Nation for the sacrifices that you as 
a family had to make in order for this wonderful man to be able to lead 
a movement from Birmingham that affected the whole world.
  I am eternally grateful, personally, for your friendship, Mrs. 
Shuttlesworth, as well as for your enduring sacrifice. Know that we 
here in Congress understand how important his life's work was, that we 
take seriously the mantle that he left behind--his commitment to 
equality, his commitment to justice for all. I know I am personally so 
grateful for the opportunity to have met him before he died and to be 
able to tell him personally thank you for what he did for me as a 
little black girl, growing up in Selma, Alabama, to be able to even 
dream of someday being in this august body.

                              {time}  1610

  It was Shirley Chisholm, the first African American to sit in these 
seats in Congress, who said: ``Service is the rent we pay for the 
privilege of living on this Earth.'' I know that Reverend Shuttlesworth 
has made more than just a deposit towards that rent. He's opened the 
doors, so many doors for so many of us to walk through, and for that I 
just want to say thank you. Thank you. We are awfully humbled by the 
fact that we have an opportunity to pay tribute to such a wonderful 
man.
  In closing I just want to say thanks to this august body for allowing 
us the opportunity to celebrate the life of such a wonderful American. 
And we say in closing, while we may say farewell to Reverend 
Shuttlesworth now, we in America know that it was because of the work 
that he did that we have held fast as America and made sure that we 
held up to the ideals of what it is to be American, that is, the ideals 
of equality and the ideals of democracy.
  I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________