About 50 people gathered in the KU Torch Lounge Thursday night for a tribute to a civil rights leader you may have never heard of.

Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth, 84, was in attendance for the event. L. D. Ervin, the author of a recent book about Shuttlesworth entitled 'Step by Step,' also spoke at the tribute.

He said that Shuttlesworth, along with more well-known names such as Ralph Abernathy and Martin Luther King Jr., made up the 'big three' of the civil rights movement.

Shuttlesworth, who now lives in Cincinnati, spoke about his experiences during the struggle for civil rights.

'Segregation was separate and very much unequal,' he said. 'There was just no dignity.'

During the tribute, he talked about a vareity of his experiences during his lifetime.

'I've been mobbed, beaten, in jail about 38 times,' Shuttlesworth said. 'I haven't been arrested since Ronald Reagan was in the White House.'

Shuttlesworht also discussed one of the most important projects that he worked on, the use of children in peaceful demonstrations.

'These children, elementary and secondary children, were the soldiers that broke the back of segregation,' he said. 'To the children, it was an adventure.'

Ervin explained that when all other means were exhausted, Shuttlesworth called upon children to help advance the civil rights movement, training them to march and protest nonviolently.

On May 2, 1963, hundreds of children marched out of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., Ervin said. Over 500 children were arrested that day, and each day the protest continued. By May 10, over 2,000 arrests had been made, and children were being placed in fenced jails because the normal jails were full.

On May 10, an agreement was reached with the city of Birmingham to remove all of the Birmingham segregation laws.

'Birmingham is where the back of segregation was broken in Alabama,' Shuttlesworth said. 'I thank God for using me in His purpose.'

It was not the only time that Shuttlesworth recognized the role of God in his life.

On December 25, 1956, dynamite was placed near Shuttlesworth's house, almost directly next to his head. Despite the partial colapse of the house, he left the scene unharmed.

'God was there, as he promised to be,' he said. 'I'm just an ordinary man proud to be used in His service.'

Shuttlesworth said that one must always remember the power of nonviolence, and that there is still work to be done toward equality.

'We have made some progress in this country,' Shuttlesworth said. 'Racism is a darkness that we still haven't gotten rid of.'