Birth of an Icon

Birth of an Icon. March Route Towards a Purposeful Life. Freddie Lee Robinson was born March 18, 1922, in Mt. Meigs, Montgomery County, Alabama, to Alberta Robinson and Vetter Greene. The unmarried couple also conceived a girl, Cleola. Because Vetter could not provide for his growing family, Alberta's father, March Robinson, moved his pregnant daughter and grandson back to her childhood home in Oxmoor Valley, a rural area south of Birmingham. Like many poor people, March worked in Birmingham's mines. Opportunities for Black workers meant lesser pay, longer hours and more dangerous conditions than for White workers. , Paired marker , 1922 , Freddie Lee and Cleola were given the last name of their stepfather, William Nathan Shuttlesworth, whom his mother married on January 22, 1927. The couples' other children were Eugene, Eula Mae, Ernestine, Awilda, Clifton, Truzella, and Betty. Alberta Robinson Shuttlesworth was a no-nonsense parent who instilled in Freddie and his eight siblings her church-going values, which included hard work and self-respect. Being close to and protective of his mother, young Fred inherited many of her bold and strong-minded traits. These traits molded his aggressive personality, preparing him for leadership in the American Civil Rights Movement., "Many times I wanted to try Mama, but one thing I know: Alberta didn't play." , Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth , Birmingham's Civil Rights Foot Soldier General, about his mother., Lesson E1: Describe how childhood experiences can shape your life in later years.