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Narration recounts two bombing attempts on Fred Shuttlesworth and credits watchman Will Hall

Site narration / presentation · August 20, 2026
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Summary

A presenter recounted two separate bombing attempts on Fred Shuttlesworth's home and a church and credited a watchman, Will Hall, with removing a burning fuse and averting deaths. The presenter also said authorities initially tried to blame the watchman.

The presenter described two bombing attempts connected to Fred Shuttlesworth's activism: a Christmas-night 1956 blast outside Shuttlesworth's door and a later attack in which "at least 15 sticks of dynamite in a paint can" were placed outside a church. The presenter credited a watchman named Will Hall with spotting the burning fuse, carrying the device into the street and preventing casualties.

The narration also reported that Birmingham's then all-white police department "at first tried to make it look like he was the one who set the bomb," a claim presented without rebuttal or documented response in the transcript. The account frames the attacks as both violent attempts to intimidate civil-rights leaders and examples of the obstacles organizers faced from local institutions.