A man died yesterday. He had a huge impact on our lives. Fred Shuttlesworth.
Reading about Rev. Shuttleworth, I am saddened that this is the first I've heard of him. Everything I ever was taught about the civil rights movement revolved around MLK and Rosa Parks, and highlighting certain political leaders (amusingly most of whom were white). Logically it makes sense that there were people like this man on the ground, showing great determination and courage, organizing and rallying supporters -- but since everything was presented to me in a general way about ideas and vague vignettes of types of resistance and demonstration, I never really thought about the other people. [1]This really makes me hope that I can stand up to things I know are wrong in the same way -- Rev. Shuttleworth's story is an inspiration.[1] I can't help but wonder if we don't avoid specifics of the civil rights movement in curriculums to avoid showing others how to incite change when the powers that be seem to not want it.