Shuttlesworth released from Birmingham hospital

Published 2:38 pm Tuesday, January 13, 2009

BIRMINGHAM — The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth has been released from St. Vincent’s Hospital after recovering from pneumonia and dehydration.

Sephira Shuttlesworth said her husband will now move to a nursing home in Birmingham.

The 86-year-old civil rights leader was admitted to St. Vincent’s Hospital on Dec. 28 for treatment and was discharged Monday.

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Shuttlesworth led the effort in the 1950s and 1960s to fight segregation laws in Birmingham.

He left in 1961 to serve as pastor of a church in Cincinnati, but returned to Alabama often to help lead civil rights demonstrations.

He co-led marches in Birmingham with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963.

Shuttlesworth moved back to Birmingham in 2008 after suffering a stroke in 2007.

The Birmingham International Airport was renamed last year to honor Shuttlesworth for his work as a civil rights crusader.