AFRAS 200
Dr. Reddick
March 19, 2015
Fred Shuttlesworth
From Project C to The Freedom Rides, every voice in the civil rights movement counted. If it was not for one very important voice, many of the civil rights demonstrations would have never been organized. That voice was Fred Shuttlesworth. Fred Shuttlesworth’s involvement was instrumental to the 1963 Birmingham Campaign. He helped to organize The Freedom Rides, Project C, and many youth protests, which were incredibly important to the progression of the civil rights movements. Through these efforts he helped change the course of the movement as a whole, and paved the way for human rights. In Fred Shuttlesworth work as a civil rights leader he worked tirelessly to ensure …show more content…
They formed the backbone of the wider civil rights movement, who engaged in voter registration and other activities. Southern blacks generally organized around their churches, the center of their communities and a base of moral strength. The Freedom Riders helped inspire participation in other subsequent civil rights campaigns, including voter registration throughout the South, freedom schools, and the Black Power movement. At the time, most blacks in southern states had been unable to register to vote, due to constitutions, laws and practices that had effectively disfranchised most of them since the turn of the 20th century. For instance, white administrators supervised reading comprehension and literacy tests that highly educated blacks could not pass. The most incredible part of the Freedom Rides is that they still have an effect today. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Rides, Oprah Winfrey invited all living Freedom Riders to join her TV program to celebrate their legacy. The episode aired on May 4, 2011. On May 6–16, 2011, 40 college …show more content…
Project C called for direct nonviolent action to attract media attention to "the biggest and baddest city of the South". In preparation for the protests, Walker timed the walking distance from the 16th Street Baptist Church, headquarters for the campaign, to the downtown area. He surveyed the segregated lunch counters of department stores, and listed federal buildings as secondary targets should police block the protesters' entrance into primary targets such as stores, libraries, and all-white churches. Fred Shuttlesworth was the start to this because he originally wanted to help protect Martin Luther King, since MLK’s presence was not fully welcomed in The South. The campaign used a variety of nonviolent methods of confrontation, including sit-ins at libraries and lunch counters, kneel-ins by black visitors at white churches, and a march to the county building to mark the beginning of a voter-registration drive. Most businesses responded by refusing to serve demonstrators. Some white spectators at a sit-in at a Woolworth's lunch counter spat upon the participants. A few hundred protesters, including jazz musician Al Hibbler, were arrested, although Hibbler was immediately released by Connor. The SCLC's goals were to fill the jails with protesters to force the city government to negotiate as demonstrations continued. However, not enough people were arrested to affect the functioning of the