Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth has signed this First Day Cover issued by the United States Postal Service. Shuttlesworth was whipped with a chain for trying to enroll his children in a white school. He advertised that he was going to do it and knew he was going to suffer for it (his wife was also stabbed during the effort). His home was bombed with 16 sticks of dynamite by the KKK and he miraculously survived. Shuttlesworth invited Martin Luther King to Birmingham resulting in the climax of the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement. As a result, the 1964 Civil Rights Act can be attributed initially to Shuttlesworth’s efforts.
Phenomenal First Day Cover issued to remember an important change in the 50’s….The desegregation of public schools. The all-over cachet features an image of an African-American woman and child sitting on the steps of the nation’s Capitol; she is holding the news paper with the headline clearly visible “High Court Bans Segregation in Public Schools.”
Item is posted with the special “Desegregating Public Schools” postage stamp, and postmarked on the FIRST DAY of the stamp’s issue: May 26, 1999.
It measures 3.5″x6.5″ and is in MINT condition. Photos of Reverend Shuttlesworth and Jet Magazine are NOT included in this collection.
Civil Rights Heritage Museum Online 