Goodbyes begin for civil rights leader Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-alabama-shuttlesworthtre79l21k-20111022,0,5493590.story

Verna Gates

Reuters

4:37 p.m. CDT, October 22, 2011

BIRMINGHAM, Ala (Reuters) - Three days of public goodbyes for civil rights leader Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth began on Saturday at the Birmingham, Alabama church where his fiery sermons once inspired others to join the fight against segregation.

Shuttlesworth, who endured beatings, survived a bombing and was described by Martin Luther King Jr. as "the most courageous civil rights fighter in the South," died on October 5 at age 89.

Spectators gathered early on Saturday outside the historic Bethel Baptist Church where Shuttlesworth served as pastor from 1953 to 1961, surviving the Christmas Day 1956 bombing of the parsonage.

An honor guard of police and firemen carried his casket from the church and loaded it onto an artillery wagon drawn by a white horse. Friends, family and dignitaries then lined up behind the wagon for a procession to the new Bethel sanctuary a block away.

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