Retired Pastor, Civil Rights Pioneer Recovering from Stroke
A prominent Cincinnati church leader known for his work with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. remains hospitalized, local media reported, after he suffered a mild stroke last week.
The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, founder of the Greater New Light Baptist Church in Avondale, Ohio, was taken to Jewish Hospital after suffering a stroke last Wednesday and was then transferred to Cincinnati's University Hospital, where he remained in Intensive Care Sunday night, Fox 19 Cincinnati reported Monday.
His daughter, Patricia Massengill, said his condition was a little better, but that he still couldn't receive non-family visitors. She said he was talking, but restless, and he was on a mild sedative. She and other family members were taking turns sitting with him.
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"He goes, he never stops... he's gotta learn that he has to take care of his body," she said, according to Fox 19.
Although Shuttlesworth retired from ministry on his 84th birthday early last year, Massengill said he has continued to accept a number of speaking engagements.
"He's always said he wants to wear out, not to rust out," she said.
As a minister in Birmingham, Ala., Shuttlesworth had taken an active lead in the fight against segregation and other forms of racism, playing a major role in the 1955-56 bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala., and the desegregation of Birmingham schools.
The Baptist minister also marched with King in 1965 from Birmingham to Selma, Ala., to support black voting rights.
After taking up a pastorate in Cincinnati – where he has continued to work against racism and for alleviation of the problems of the city's homeless – Shuttlesworth organized the Greater New Light Baptist Church in 1966 and founded the Shuttlesworth Housing Foundation in 1988 to assist families who might otherwise be unable to buy their own homes.
On Friday, Shuttlesworth's family issued a statement saying the civil rights pioneer is expected to make a full recovery and asking for the community's prayers.
Flowers and cards would be appreciated, they said.
