Digital Media Center
Bryant-Denny Stadium, Gate 61
920 Paul Bryant Drive
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0370
(800) 654-4262

© 2024 Alabama Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Civil Rights Leader in Birmingham Hospital

By Associated Press

Birmingham, AL – The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, a civil rights leader in Birmingham during the 1950s and 1960s, was being treated at a hospital Monday for pneumonia and dehydration.

The 86-year-old Shuttlesworth was placed in the intensive care unit at St. Vincent's Hospital on Sunday, according to his wife, Sephira Shuttlesworth.

He was listed in stable condition Sunday night. An update on his condition wasn't immediately available Monday.

Shuttlesworth helped lead the fight against segregation of schools and public facilities in Birmingham, inviting the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to the city in the early 1960s. His home was bombed twice and he was jailed and beaten while leading protests.

The city's airport was renamed in his honor in July.

Shuttlesworth, who became pastor of the Bethel Baptist Church in 1953, moved to Ohio in 1961, leading a church in Cincinnati for more than four decades but returning frequently to Alabama for key protests in the 1960s. He returned to suburban Birmingham in February for rehabilitation after suffering a mild stroke.

News from Alabama Public Radio is a public service in association with the University of Alabama. We depend on your help to keep our programming on the air and online. Please consider supporting the news you rely on with a donation today. Every contribution, no matter the size, propels our vital coverage. Thank you.