David and Goliath

by

Malcolm Gladwell

Fred Shuttlesworth was a black preacher and activist in Birmingham, Alabama during the civil rights movement. A brave man, he was a strong opponent of segregation. When news went around that he was planning on riding a segregated bus, the Ku Klux Klan bombed his house. Miraculously, though, Shuttlesworth survived, and this experience made him feel invincible. Shuttlesworth experienced several other close-calls, all of which simply emboldened him even more. Gladwell calls upon these stories to further illustrate the idea of “near misses” and “remote misses,” which suggest that traumatic events can reinvigorate people and make them feel stronger. Later in the civil rights movement, Shuttlesworth worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Wyatt Walker to undermine Birmingham’s racist public safety commissioner, Bull Connor.
Get the entire David and Goliath LitChart as a printable PDF.
David and Goliath PDF

Fred Shuttlesworth Character Timeline in David and Goliath

The timeline below shows where the character Fred Shuttlesworth appears in David and Goliath. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5: Emil “Jay” Freireich
Advantages and Disadvantages Theme Icon
Hardship and Resilience Theme Icon
Conviction, Morality, and Empathy Theme Icon
...so tough after all.” To further illustrate this point, he tells the story of Fred Shuttlesworth, a black preacher and activist in Birmingham, Alabama who survived multiple acts of violence during... (full context)
Hardship and Resilience Theme Icon
Conviction, Morality, and Empathy Theme Icon
Several months after the close call at his home, Fred Shuttlesworth takes his daughter to enroll at an all-white high school. When he drives up to... (full context)
Chapter 6: Wyatt Walker
Advantages and Disadvantages Theme Icon
Convention and the Status Quo Theme Icon
Conviction, Morality, and Empathy Theme Icon
...be hauled off to jail. At one point, a police officer by the church asks Shuttlesworth—who has also been involved in the planning—how many more children he has inside the church,... (full context)
Chapter 9: André Trocmé
Advantages and Disadvantages Theme Icon
Hardship and Resilience Theme Icon
Conviction, Morality, and Empathy Theme Icon
...because Trocmé is “disagreeable” in the same way as Jay Freireich, Wyatt Walker, and Fred Shuttlesworth. Simply put, he doesn’t care what might happen to him, as long as he honors... (full context)