Rev. Shuttlesworth is a civil rights activist who led the fight against segregation as a minister in Birmingham, Alabama. On December 25, 1956, unknown persons tried to kill Shuttlesworth by placing sixteen sticks of dynamite under his bedroom window. Rev. Shuttlesworth and his family escaped unharmed even though his house was heavily damaged.

In 1957 Shuttlesworth, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Ralph Abernathy (Montgomery, AL), Rev. Joseph Lowery (Mobile, AL), Rev. T.J. Jemison (Baton Rouge, LA), Rev. C.K. Steele (Tallahassee, FL), Rev. A.L. Davis (New Orleans, LA), and Bayard Rustin founded the Southern Leadership Conference.

He continues to stand against racism in Cincinnati, where he has pastored since 1966.