Mourners praise civil rights activist Shuttlesworth

The sad truth is not many people know the legacy of Rev. Shuttlesworth. We have been fed the people of the Civil Rights Movement that white America liked or simply could not ignore. I wonder how do we ensure that this legacy is kept alive. We need to know everyone not just a select few.

Those who toiled alongside the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth through the beatings and bombings of the civil rights era were among the hundreds gathered Monday to celebrate his legacy in the city he fought to liberate from segregation.

Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, a native of Alabama, worked with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee during the civil rights movement. He recalled meeting Shuttlesworth in May 1961 during the Freedom Rides.

Lewis called the preacher "one of the founding fathers of the New America," who put his body on the line to end segregation and racial discrimination.

"Fear, real fear, smothered the air, not just throughout Birmingham, but throughout the American South," Lewis said. "Birmingham is different today. Alabama is different today. America is different today, because this man passed our way."

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