Encyclopedia article about Fred Lee Shuttlesworth, African American Baptist pastor and the central leader of the civil rights movement in Birmingham, Alabama. Shuttlesworth was one of the pioneering figures in the civil rights era. The organization he founded in 1956, the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR), joined with Martin Luther King Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to protest segregation in Birmingham in 1963. Partly as a result of those direct-action demonstrations, the U.S. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the aggregation and enhancement of partner metadata.

All rights reserved. By downloading, printing, or otherwise using text, image, logo, audio and video files from this Web site, users agree that they will limit their use of such files for purposes permitted under the fair use doctrine and will not violate EOA's or any other party's proprietary rights. Fair use of copyrighted material includes the use of protected materials for noncommercial educational purposes. EOA content used for such purposes does not require express permission from EOA or the Alabama Humanities Foundation, which holds the copyrights for EOA content. All other uses require written permission from the Alabama Humanities Foundation. Permission requests may be submitted by email to: editor@encyclopediaofalabama.org or by mail to: Encyclopedia of Alabama, Attn.: Permissions, R.B. Draughon Library, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849.

Forms part of the Encyclopedia of Alabama.