Shuttlesworth Showdown

Shuttlesworth Showdown. March Route Towards a Purposeful Life. In 1961, Rev. Shuttlesworth finally gave in to his wife Ruby's wishes to leave Birmingham to become pastor of Revelation Baptist Church in Cincinnati. But he returned to Birmingham often to organize the Monday night mass meetings and lead the Birmingham Movement as president of ACMHR. He and fellow ACMHR ministers were jailed numerous times in various protests. In 1962, he traveled with Dr. King and Rev. Abernathy to meet President John F. Kennedy, urging him to end racial discrimination by federal law. Andrew Young, then a young lieutenant in the SCLC, said Rev. Shuttlesworth urgently insisted that Dr. King bring the SCLC and the ultimate civil rights showdown to Birmingham: "We've been hammering away for seven years with no impact. If segregation is going to fall, we've got to crack Birmingham." , Paired marker , April 3 - May 10, 1963 , Dr. King finally agreed to combine the SCLC's forces with ACMHR's network of churches and activists, thus launching the 1963 Birmingham Movement. City residents – who changed the form of government from three commissioners to a mayor and city council – had just voted Eugene "Bull” Connor out of office by electing Albert Boutwell as mayor. But Connor refused to leave and, for a time, Birmingham had two competing governments. Connor had Dr. King arrested on Good Friday and infamously ordered the release of high-powered fire hoses and police dogs on child protestors. Upon hearing that Rev. Shuttlesworth was hospitalized after a fireman's hose knocked him down several stairs, Connor said, “He should have left in a hearse.” The spectacular news stories and images of brutality and oppression out of Birmingham shocked the nation and world. The situation forced President Kennedy to take federal action to end racial discrimination nationwide. The joint SCLC-ACMHR campaign, dubbed “Project C” (“C” for "Confrontation”), became the most important civil rights battle to date. The protests in Birmingham sparked 758 demonstrations in 186 American cities for 10 weeks., "We here in Birmingham are part of this universal fight between right and wrong." , Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth , announcing the purpose of “Project C" in April 1963., Lesson E14: Why did the two organizations decide to join forces and why was it significant?