New mural pays tribute to Rev. Shuttlesworth

By Marla Fuller

Cincinnati Office of Human Relations

The Cincinnati Office of Human Relations joined the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth family in celebration of the legacy of the late minister and Civil Rights leader with a new mural unveiling. The mural was created by artist Rico Gatson and pays lasting tribute to Rev. Shuttlesworth, one of the most relentless Civil Rights activists who led a charge to abolish segregation in Birmingham during the 1950s and 60s.

The unveiling took place on Thursday, May 23, at the Birmingham – Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM). The unveiling was attended by several members of the Shuttlesworth family, including his daughters, Dr. Ruby Shuttlesworth Bester, Dr. Carolyn Shuttlesworth, and Patricia Shuttlesworth Massengill. Dozens of area leaders, activists and residents also gathered for the unveiling.

The mural, “Fred S.,” will honor the Civil Rights Legacy he built throughout his life; a Legacy that helped changed the world. Nearly 13 feet high and 66 feet wide, the massive mural simply titled “Fred S,” depicts the reverend surrounded by an array of colors.

Gatson, who was born in Georgia, has long admired Shuttlesworth. Gatson is a multimedia visual artist whose work explores themes of history, identity, popular culture, and spirituality through sculpture, painting, video and public art projects.

The mural is the result of a collaboration between the artist, airport and a group project of the Leadership Birmingham Class of 2023. “Fred S,” was initially created for the Birmingham Museum of Art’s Wall to Wall series before finding its permanent home at the BHM.

“Reverend Shuttlesworth was a true pillar of the Civil Rights community, and he dedicated his life to advancing the cause of justice for all Americans,” stated Paul M. Booth, Division Manager, Office of Human Relations, City of Cincinnati. “He was a major leader of the Civil Rights Movement who helped propel the plight of Birmingham’s Black residents into a national spotlight and it’s only right that he has been immortalized by his namesake.”

Rev. Shuttlesworth was at the forefront of some of the most defining moments of the Civil Rights Movement. He was a leading activist in the fight against segregation and racism in the South during the Jim Crow era. In 1956, Shuttlesworth established the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, sparking a series of events that subjected him and his family to various acts of violence. Rev. Shuttlesworth joined forces with Martin Luther King in 1957 to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. 

In 1961 he moved to Cincinnati, where he founded the Greater New Light Baptist Church in 1966. His activism extended to Cincinnati, where he organized demonstrations and worked tirelessly to dismantle racial barriers. He continued his work against racism and housing disparities in Cincinnati.

In the summer of 2008, the Birmingham Airport Authority Board of Directors approved renaming the airport to The Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, in order to honor the legacy of the Civil Rights activist and Birmingham legend. Rev. Shuttlesworth returned to Alabama after suffering a stroke in 2007. He died in 2011 at the age of 89.

“I’m so thankful that in 2008, daddy was there for the naming of the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport,” said Ruby Shutllesworth Bester. “His life has been a world-wind of doing, going and meeting people who really believe in freedom and justice for all. As his second daughter, I have always marveled at the ability of daddy to explain and encourage people to engage with him in non-violence movements. Reverend Damon Lynch Jr. once said in a video that daddy could take 25 people and stretch them out and they would look like they were 75.”

Shuttlesworth-Bester says that one of the things that she’s always admired about her family is that they were a unit working together, no matter the circumstances.  

“We are appreciative of the cities of Birmingham and Cincinnati who have honored a man – our father – and even our family – over the years. Daddy has only lived in two states, Alabama and Ohio. He’s traveled all over the world, but our family has only lived in two states as a unit.”

There’s a lot of history wrapped up in those two states and Shuttlesworth-Bester wanted to relive and share some of it with other residents during the mural unveiling celebration. She organized a bus trip for a group of Cincinnati residents to go down to Alabama for the mural unveiling. While there, passengers took a tour of some of the city’s historic sites of the Civil Rights era. On Friday, May 24, the group visited the 16^th Street Baptist Church; Kelly Ingram Park where dogs attacked children; AG Gaston Motel, the headquarters for the Civil Rights Movement in the South; Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, where the group had lunch with people who lived and experienced the movement first-hand. This included their Director, the “Shuttlesworth” Film Director and social activist, T. Marie King; Governor Siegelman who was the Governor of Alabama 25 years ago, the Honorable Richard Arrington, the First African American Mayor of Birmingham; and Bishop Calvin Woods who continued the work of the Historic Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights after Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth moved to Cincinnati. The group also drove past the John Herbert Phillips High School where Rev. Shuttlesworth was beaten and Mrs. Shuttlesworth was stabbed. The last stop of the group was the Historic Bethel Baptist Church in Collegeville where it all started.

You can visit the mural yourself in Concourse B of the airport and learn more about Shuttlesworth by watching the Emmy-nominated documentary “Shuttlesworth,” a link to which you can find embedded in the mural’s plaque. It’s also streaming on PBS.