Fred Shuttlesworth

Released
Full name:Fred Lee Shuttlesworth
Date of birth:18. 03. 1922
Date of death:05. 10. 2011
Age:89† Deceased
Gender:Male
Race:Black
Era:1960s
State:Alabama
Time Imprisoned:
1 Year 9 Months 25 Days
Support
Civil Rights Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights
Fred Shuttlesworth

Biography

Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth was one of the central leaders of the Birmingham civil-rights movement. He became pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1953, helped create the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights in 1956 after Alabama banned the NAACP, and later became a key SCLC leader. He worked with CORE during the Freedom Rides, helped force the Birmingham desegregation crisis of 1963, and later helped organize the Selma-to-Montgomery voting-rights campaign. Martin Luther King Jr. called him "the most courageous civil rights fighter in the South." He was arrested and jailed more than 30 separate times for his activism.

Cases

Birmingham City Jail
Charges: Violating Birmingham's bus-segregation ordinance — arrested with 21 others the day.
Arrested: Dec 26, 1956
Incarcerated: Dec 26, 1956
Sentence: Held in brief booking custody; exact jail duration not documented. Charges as recorded: Violating Birmingham's bus-segregation ordinance — arrested with 21 others the day after his Bethel Baptist parsonage was bombed, in the campaign to desegregate the city buses.
Convicted: Arrested and booked.
Institution State: Alabama
Birmingham City Jail
Charges: Violating Birmingham's bus-segregation laws.
Sentenced: October 1958
Incarcerated: Jan 25, 1962
Released: Mar 1, 1962
Sentence: Ninety days at hard labor. Served 36 days, January 25 – March 1, 1962 (released on $300 bond on March 1). After William Kunstler's federal habeas petition led the Supreme Court to direct that bail be available, he served no further time. Verdict as recorded: Yes — convicted and sentenced to 90 days (Phifer received 60). After the Supreme Court initially declined review, they surrendered on January 25, 1962. Charges as recorded: Violating Birmingham's bus-segregation laws — the October 1958 bus-seating case, tried with Rev. J. S. Phifer.
Convicted: Yes
Institution State: Alabama
Birmingham City Jail
Charges: Vagrancy and aiding and abetting others to break the law — arrested March 31, 1960.
Arrested: Mar 31, 1960
Sentenced: Apr 4, 1960
Incarcerated: Mar 31, 1960
Released: Sep 27, 1960
Sentence: 180 days at hard labor plus a $100 fine. Actual time served is not documented; the conviction was overturned. Verdict as recorded: Yes — convicted April 4, 1960; the conviction was reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1963. Charges as recorded: Vagrancy and aiding and abetting others to break the law — arrested March 31, 1960 during the Birmingham sit-in campaign and again on April 2 (Shuttlesworth & Billups v. City of Birmingham).
Convicted: Yes
Institution State: Alabama
Birmingham City Jail
Charges: Interfering with a police officer — arrested.
Incarcerated: May 1961
Released: Oct 28, 1961
Sentence: 180 days at hard labor; actual time served not documented (conviction reversed). Verdict as recorded: Yes — convicted; the conviction was reversed by the Supreme Court in 1964. Charges as recorded: Interfering with a police officer — arrested during the Freedom Rides after objecting when Commissioner Bull Connor ordered the riders arrested.
Convicted: Yes
Institution State: Alabama
Birmingham City Jail
Charges: Refusing to move — arrested at the Birmingham Greyhound station when he tried to board the bus with the Freedom Riders.
Incarcerated: May 20, 1961
Sentence: Jail duration not documented.
Convicted: Arrested.
Institution State: Alabama
Montgomery City Jail
Incarcerated: May 25, 1961
Sentence: Release time not documented.
Convicted: Booked / arrested.
Institution State: Alabama
Birmingham City Jail
Charges: Refusing to promise not to violate the segregation laws for the coming year.
Incarcerated: Jun 2, 1961
Released: Jun 3, 1961
Sentence: One day in jail plus a $10 fine.
Convicted: Yes
Institution State: Alabama
Birmingham City Jail
Charges: Loitering / refusing an officer's order to "move on" — arrested near a downtown department store (Shuttlesworth v. City of Birmingham, 382 U.S. 87).
Arrested: Apr 4, 1962
Sentenced: Apr 4, 1962
Incarcerated: Apr 4, 1962
Released: Oct 1, 1962
Sentence: 180 days at hard labor, plus 61 days in default of the fine and costs. Actual time served not documented (conviction reversed). Verdict as recorded: Yes — sentenced; conviction reversed by the Supreme Court in 1965.
Convicted: Yes
Institution State: Alabama
Birmingham City Jail
Incarcerated: Apr 6, 1963
Sentence: Custody time not documented.
Convicted: Arrested.
Institution State: Alabama
Birmingham City Jail
Charges: Parading without a permit.
Arrested: Apr 12, 1963
Incarcerated: Apr 12, 1963
Released: Jul 11, 1963
Sentence: 90 days at hard labor, plus 48 days in default of the fine and costs. Actual time served not documented (conviction reversed). Verdict as recorded: Yes — convicted under Birmingham's parade ordinance; the conviction was reversed by the Supreme Court in 1969. Charges as recorded: Parading without a permit — for helping lead a Good Friday civil-rights march of 52 people without a permit, alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy (Shuttlesworth v. City of Birmingham, 394 U.S. 147).
Convicted: Yes
Institution State: Alabama
Birmingham City Jail
Charges: Criminal contempt.
Sentenced: April 1963
Sentence: Five days in jail plus a $50 fine. His exact service dates are not documented. Verdict as recorded: Yes — the contempt convictions were affirmed by the Supreme Court in 1967, and the defendants were ordered back to the Birmingham jail to serve the sentence. Charges as recorded: Criminal contempt — for violating a state-court injunction against the Birmingham marches (Walker v. City of Birmingham, 388 U.S. 307).
Convicted: Yes
Institution State: Alabama

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