He once marched arm in arm with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, the last surviving member of the civil rights movementsbig threewhich included King and Ralph Abernathywill be the featured speaker at West Virginia Universitys 20th anniversary MLK Commemoration at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13, at the Spruce Street United Methodist Church.

Born in Alabama in 1922, Shuttlesworth attended Selma University and Alabama State College. He became the pastor of the Bethel Baptist Church in 1953.

In May 1956, he established the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. His fight for civil rights made him a target of white supremacists. On Christmas Day that year, his home was bombed, and he was nearly beaten to death after he announced ACMHR would test new anti-segregation laws in Birmingham, Ala.

A year later, Shuttlesworth joined King, Abernathy and Bayard Rustin to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Based in Atlanta, the SCLC assisted local organizations working for the equality of African Americans. Its motto was:Not one hair of one head of one person should be harmed.

King once described Shuttlesworth asthe most courageous civil rights fighter in the South.Throughout the early60s, Shuttlesworth participated in sit-in protests against segregated lunch counters, and he helped Congress of Racial Equality organize its Freedom Rides. He also led mass demonstrations against segregation in Birmingham.

Today Shuttlesworth is still carrying the torch lit by King. He travels extensively, speaking to young people in hopes of inspiring a new generation that values diversity and equality. The commemoration, an annual tribute to Kings legacy of peaceful activism and community service, is organized by the WVU Center for Black Culture and Research and sponsored by Dominion Energy.

WVU is proud to partner with Dominion Energy to encourage and celebrate diversity at West Virginia University,said Todd McFadden, CBCR assistant director.It is through Dominions generosity that the center will be able to bring two lectures to the University City in 2005.

Dominion Energy invests in organizations and programs that improve the quality of life in those communities in which Dominion provides electricity or natural gas service and where Dominion has significant facilities and business interests.

WVU s Center for Black Culture and Research was established in 1987: to provide critical support

• to WVU students, particularly African-American students and students of color with issues concerning recruitment and retention;

• to provide the university community with cultural and social events that are unique to the African world experience;

• to provide a forum for the study, research and examination of African people and societies;

• to provide an educational, social and cultural support system for African and African-American students, faculty, staff and community members;

• to support the development of West Virginia through education, extension and public service activities;and

• to serve as an intellectual source for the study and research of African and African-American culture and life.

CBC &R on the Net:http://www.wvu.edu/~cbcr/mission.htm