

A man died yesterday. He had a huge impact on our lives. Fred Shuttlesworth. - ColinWright
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Shuttlesworth

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ellyagg
I don't normally say things like this, but seriously, how is this hacker news?
It seems more like a peevish reddit-style reaction to the Jobs articles.

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DrCatbox
Because you upvoted 30+ pages about the same news, thats what the comments are
for, we get it damnit.

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meterplech
The HN reaction should involve posts like Amex's 0day. Look- I enjoyed reading
this too. But you come to HN instead of Reddit for a reason

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pixdamix
I read this on reddit, I wasn't even aware of his research, what he found. I
found it to be also truly inspiring:

"A great man has passed.

Alas, Ralph Steinman is dead. He died three days before he got the Nobel Prize
in Physiology and Medicine in 2011. He dropped out of no college, he did not
make a billion dollar company. He did not make billions of dollars, nor even
hundreds of millions, though after his death his estate would receive slightly
more than a million dollars of the prize money. Yet, he had touched millions,
possibly hundreds of millions of lives and will likely touch billions of men
women and children in future generations by discoverying one of the secrets of
how immunity against viruses or bacteria are translated into an immune
response by adaptation of immune cells. How allergy or autoimmune diseases
develop, and how immune cells transmit signales to one another. It is possible
that it was the fruits of his research that might have extended the life,
after pancreatic cancer several years ago, of another giant who died recently.
It is also certain that his work has resulted into billions of dollars worth
of pharmaceutical industry, and will produce many billions of dollars worth of
pharmaceutical industry, and will produce many billions in the future, Such is
the reach of a humble life in fundamental science."

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sophacles
Reading about Rev. Shuttleworth, I am saddened that this is the first I've
heard of him. Everything I ever was taught about the civil rights movement
revolved around MLK and Rosa Parks, and highlighting certain political leaders
(amusingly most of whom were white). Logically it makes sense that there were
people like this man on the ground, showing great determination and courage,
organizing and rallying supporters -- but since everything was presented to me
in a general way about ideas and vague vignettes of types of resistance and
demonstration, I never really thought about the other people. [1]

This really makes me hope that I can stand up to things I know are wrong in
the same way -- Rev. Shuttleworth's story is an inspiration.

[1] I can't help but wonder if we don't avoid specifics of the civil rights
movement in curriculums to avoid showing others how to incite change when the
powers that be seem to not want it.

~~~
scott_s
The Children by David Halberstam: [http://www.amazon.com/Children-David-
Halberstam/dp/044900439...](http://www.amazon.com/Children-David-
Halberstam/dp/0449004392/) I can't recommend it enough. One of the best books
I've read in the past five years.

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lylejohnson
As many times as I've flown out of the Shuttlesworth Airport (in Birmingham) I
never knew who it was named for. Thanks for sharing, Colin.

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smackfu
He lived to 89 too, which is why he got put in the general obit category,
rather than some other people who died before their time.

Just read the NY Times obits every day. You'll be amazed at all the
accomplished people you've never heard about.

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_pius
Thank you very much for posting this. I was fortunate enough to meet him when
I was a kid. Great man.

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brudgers
Taylor Branch's excellent trilogy on the Civil Rights movement:

<http://taylorbranch.com/king-era-trilogy/>

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agentultra
This guy was a legend! Thanks for sharing.

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alexwolfe
Thank you for sharing this.

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gallerytungsten
A very revealing article comparing Shuttlesworth and Condoleezza Rice:
[http://www.blackcommentator.com/160/160_condi_civil_rights_d...](http://www.blackcommentator.com/160/160_condi_civil_rights_disdain.html)

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WilhelmJ
On a slightly different note, I don't remember top 5 posts on HN all about
deaths! I wonder why so many people upvote so many stories related to same
subject (i.e. Steve Jobs' death)?

