AP file

Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth right, integration leader, escorts Dwight Armstrong, 9, and his brother Floyd, 11, from the Graymont Elementary School in Birmingham, Ala, Sept. 9, 1963. State troopers, on order from the governor, opened the school but turned the African Americans away.

AP file

Civil rights leaders, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., left, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, center, and Rev. Ralph Abernathy hold a news conference in Birmingham, Ala., May 8, 1963.

Linda Stelter / The Birmingham News via AP file

Civil rights leader Fred Shuttlesworth, front left, greets former President Bill Clinton in Selma, Ala., March 4, 2007, as Sen. Barack Obama stands behind them.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called Shuttlesworth "one of the nation's most courageous freedom fighters ... a wiry, energetic and indomitable man."  Though King was more well-known, Shuttlesworth led the fight in Birmingham-- the center of the civil rights struggle. He survived a bombing, was beaten, injured by fire hoses during protests and repeatedly arrested.

I wonder how he felt when President Obama was inaugurated as our first black president?

Full story.

Slideshow on the march from Selma to Montgomery, known as 'Bloody Sunday.'