Doctor, the Lord knew I lived in a hard town, so he gave me a hard head.1
—The Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth
The crowd’s anger filled the church. The Shuttlesworth family had been viciously attacked and many that night wanted to strike out in revenge. When the reverend spoke at the mass rally he encouraged a different path. “Now I want everybody to be calm. It happened to me; it didn’t happen to you. And if I’m not mad, I don’t see why you should get mad. I don’t want any violence.”2 Since the bombing of his home and the protest against segregated buses, Shuttlesworth had continued to fight the Jim Crow laws. Reaction to one such challenge enraged the flock that evening.
This time the assault was over school segregation. Shuttlesworth had sent a petition to the superintendent requesting that all-white Phillips High School be opened to nine black families. When the petition was ignored, Shuttlesworth took direct action. On the morning of Sept ember 9, 1957, he and his wife Ruby boarded a car with their two daughters, Pat and Ricky, and two young boys. They planned to enroll the four children at Phillips. Driven by the Reverend S. J. Phifer, the car made its way toward the high school.
The city of Birmingham, Alabama, and many other southern cities were involved in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. At times, civil rights leaders traveled to Washington, D.C., to encourage reluctant politicians to support the movement.
Above are some of the places in Birmingham that played a part in the civil rights movement.
“I was beaten with a chain and brass knuckles, knocked several times to the ground, had most of the skin scrubbed off my face and ears”
—The Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth
No one knew what to expect. The reverend’s daughter Ricky recalled: “I’m sure I was nervous the day we went, but then again I was with my father and that alleviated some of the nervousness. I didn’t expect the mob that was there … I just thought, ‘Are we going in there?’”3 The swarm of fifteen to twenty white men must have been a terrifying sight. Shuttlesworth described them as “a mob of people armed with chains, brass knuckles, pipes and knives.”4
Despite the hostile reception, the reverend got out of the car. Once out, he ran to avoid the attackers. His move was not successful:
Meanwhile another group surrounded the car, pounding and smashing windows. Ruby Shuttlesworth got out to help her husband. Ricky started after her mom, but someone from the crowd slammed the door on her ankle. She got back in. Mrs. Shuttlesworth, seeing her children in danger, turned back to the car. It was not until later she realized that someone had stabbed her in the lower hip.
The reverend fought to get to the safety of his car. He knew that if he did not get back to the car, he would die right there on the street. And as Shuttlesworth lost consciousness, the others pulled him into the vehicle. Miraculously, they got to the hospital. The doctor who examined him wondered aloud why the reverend did not have a broken skull. Shuttlesworth explained, “Doctor, the Lord knew I lived in a hard town, so he gave me a hard head.”6
The police arrested three men from the group of attackers. Despite the television coverage, newspaper photos, and clear identification by the reverend, the three were not indicted by the grand jury. Later, a reporter asked Shuttlesworth to explain the purpose for his civil rights activities. His vision guided his answer. Shuttlesworth told the reporters that he looked for a day when he could sit and talk in a friendly manner with his attackers. Though few clear-cut results were gained in this action, members of the African-American community in Birmingham were not deterred. They realized that it would take much more to end a system that had existed since the time of the Civil War and before.
The Birth of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights
Shuttlesworth made sure that the years 1956 through 1963 would not be quiet ones in Birmingham. The governor of Alabama brought a legal end to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the state of Alabama. Since the NAACP was the most important civil rights organization at the time, Shuttlesworth and his colleagues formed a new organization. It was called the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR).
The organization began at a mass rally held at Sardis Baptist Church in June of 1956. One thousand people attended. At the rally, Shuttlesworth defined the purpose of the ACMHR when he proclaimed: “Our citizens are restive under the dismal yoke of segregation. The Negro citizens of Birmingham are crying for leadership to better their condition. … The only thing we are interested in is uniting our people in seeing that the laws of the land are upheld according to the Constitution of the United States.”7
The reverend believed that if segregation in the city was to be destroyed, it had to be fought on many fronts at the same time. For instance, several months before the Phillips High School incident, Fred and Ruby Shuttlesworth acted to desegregate the waiting rooms in the Birmingham train station. They strolled through the segregated waiting room, skirted a group of Ku Klux Klan members, and successfully boarded their bus to Atlanta. Minor successes such as this one buoyed the reverend’s spirit.
Bringing African-American Police to the Force
The fight to include African-American policemen on the Birmingham force brought the reverend face-to-face with a man who was destined to be one of his great adversaries and a vicious enemy of the civil rights movement. The man’s name was Theophilus Eugene “Bull” Connor. He was the newly elected commissioner of public safety as well as a secret member of the Ku Klux Klan. Shuttlesworth approached Connor and the other commissioners to request that they hire African-American police officers. In the midst of the reverend’s request, Connor stopped him and queried, “Are you Shuttlesworth?”
“Yes sir, I am …”
The exchange went downhill from there, with the reverend continuing his petition and Bull Connor stating: “I think you have done more to set your people back and cause more trouble than any Negro ever in this town.”
Shuttlesworth did not remain silent. “Mr. Commissioner … that’s a matter for history to decide. The problem is what will you do?”
“I ain’t doin’ nothin’ for you!”8
Needless to say, the request was denied.
Eugene “Bull” Conner would do his best to work against the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and the rest of those involved in the Birmingham civil rights movement.
When Connor went after Shuttlesworth, which he frequently did, the reverend never missed an opportunity to push right back. For instance, Connor was convinced that Shuttlesworth had bombed his own home on Christmas for publicity. Connor challenged the reverend to take a polygraph test to demonstrate his innocence. Shuttlesworth stated that he would do that if Commissioner Connor would also take a test to disprove charges that he was a member of the Klan and that he hated African Americans. Connor refused.
The Freedom Rides Come to Alabama
Just as Shuttlesworth and the ACMHR pressed for change within Birmingham, others fought for civil rights throughout the country. Events in the 1950s and 1960s merged into what historians would come to call the civil rights movement. Birmingham certainly felt all of the major developments in this movement including the Montgomery bus boycott, the drive to integrate schools, the lunch counter sit-ins and more.
The bus boycott, occurring southeast of Birmingham, provided inspiration across the country. The entire African-American community in Montgomery united to stay off the buses for a year, eventually winning a significant victory. In Greensboro, North Carolina, four young African-American college students sat in at a lunch counter not open to blacks and awakened the spirit of other young people ready to fight for change. One major civil rights event, the Freedom Rides, actually made its way into Birmingham.
The thirteen Freedom Riders, seven black and six white, boarded two buses in Washington, D.C., on May 4, 1961. The Riders wanted to force officials throughout the South to integrate interstate transportation facilities. When they stopped at stations, black riders would use waiting rooms, lunch counters, and bathrooms reserved for whites. White riders would use facilities for blacks. The Freedom Riders knew that such simple acts would likely provoke ugly and dangerous responses.
Little happened during the first days of the trip. As the Riders traveled through Alabama, events changed dramatically. On May 14, the two buses, one a Greyhound and the other a Trailways, left Atlanta. It was Mother’s Day. When the Greyhound bus pulled into the terminal in Anniston, Alabama, a mob brandishing iron pipes surrounded the vehicle. They beat on the sides of the bus and slashed at the tires. The Riders wisely chose to stay on the bus and proceed to their next destination, Birmingham. A caravan of fifty cars followed them from the depot.
A tire went flat five miles out of town and the bus was forced to stop. The men from the cars stormed the bus and smashed windows. One from the mob lobbed a firebomb through a shattered window and others held the door shut. The passengers faced death. A state investigator on the bus forced the door open. As Riders fled the burning coach, they were beaten by the gang waiting for them outside. The Trailways bus, one hour behind them, was to meet a similar fate.
When the second bus arrived in Anniston, members of the crowd that had assaulted the first bus boarded the second. Freedom Riders were beaten and humiliated. The bus rolled on toward Birmingham and into a trap. In Birmingham, Klansmen filled the Trailways bus terminal. Bull Connor let it be known to the Klan that police would not arrive on the scene for fifteen minutes.9 When the bus reached the Birmingham depot, the segregationists took advantage of this opportunity. As CBS news anchor Howard K. Smith, who was a witness, reported:
Freedom Riders gather outside of their burning bus in Anniston, Alabama.
Apparently, Bull Connor watched the slaughter from across the street.11 Peck and other riders made it to the home of Shuttlesworth, who saw to it that they received medical attention. The reverend also arranged a caravan of cars to rescue the first contingent of Freedom Riders, still in Anniston.
Thousands of hostile whites surrounded a church in Montgomery where the Freedom Riders held a mass rally.
This chapter of the Freedom Rides ended when the Riders decided they would complete their trip by flying from Birmingham to New Orleans. Shuttlesworth thought that his job was done when he drove the group to the airport. He was wrong. Feeling that it was important to not let violence stop a movement goal, a group of students from a Nashville college came to Birmingham to complete the ride. They too experienced violent crowds. In fact, thousands of hostile whites surrounded a church in Montgomery where the Freedom Riders held a mass rally. Many of the riders were later arrested in Mississippi and spent time in the notorious jail known as Parchman Farm. Despite the resistance, the Freedom Riders accomplished their goals. In September 1962, the White House fulfilled an obligation from a Supreme Court case and put forth rulings that forbid segregation in interstate transportation facilities.
Shuttlesworth continued his push for integration. For many years, ACMHR brought lawsuits to integrate Birmingham’s sixty-seven public parks, as well as other recreational facilities.
Shuttlesworth is booked on May 19, 1961, on two charges of conspiracy to incite a breach of the peace. During his fight for civil rights, he was often arrested.
All the parks in Birmingham were segregated, which meant that black people could not use facilities they supported with their taxes. After years of legal wrangling, Federal Judge H. H. Grooms ordered an end to segregation in city parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, and more by January 15, 1962. A significant victory for the reverend seemed likely. This was not to be. On January 1, 1962, Bull Connor and the city commissioners closed the city parks to everyone, black and white.
Much had occurred since 1956 when the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights had been founded, but not much had changed in Birmingham. As Shuttlesworth was to note some years later: “Negroes were 42 percent of its population and enjoyed zero percent of its privileges and opportunities.”12 Despite few concrete results, the fight for civil rights in Birmingham continued. The people in Birmingham must have found hope in the movement they saw growing throughout the South. New leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had risen and new groups such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference had arrived to push for change throughout the region. There was also a new leadership in the White House, which seemed, at times, ready to support civil rights efforts. In Birmingham itself, people were willing to keep fighting for justice despite what sometimes seemed to be a hopeless uphill climb. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., observed the determined leadership of the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth matched by the doggedness of his followers and wondered if it was time to bring the eyes of the nation to Birmingham.