Historic Demonstration at Phillips School

In 1957, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and his followers in the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights were the only Blacks trying to integrate Birmingham public schools. When school offices did not respond to their request to admit their children into a White public school, Shuttlesworth went to enroll his children at Phillips High School himself. As he left his car, an angry mob of White men armed with brass knuckles, bicycle chains, and bats attacked him, and his wife, Ruby, was stabbed as she tried to help him back to the car. Shuttlesworth escaped with relatively minor injuries, then attended a church mass meeting after the attack and vowed to continue efforts to integrate the city's schools and other public facilities. The Phillips school incident in 1957 began the decade-long movement to integrate Birmingham public schools and cemented Shuttlesworth's image as the general among Birmingham's nonviolent army of civil rights foot soldiers.

Birmingham, Alabama · United States