#viola liuzzo

Viola Fauver Liuzzo (née Gregg; April 11, 1925 – March 25, 1965) was an American civil rights activist. In March 1965 she drove from her home in Detroit, Michigan to Alabama to support the Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights. On March 25 she was shot dead by three Klan members while driving activists between the cities.

After the march, Viola Liuzzo, assisted by Leroy Moton, a 19-year-old African American, continued shuttling marchers and volunteers from Montgomery back to Selma in her car. James Orange, an SCLC veteran, warned her that it was very dangerous and she should not drive to Montgomery.

As Liuzzo and Moton were driving along Route 80 to Selma, a car tried to force them off the road. After dropping passengers off, she and Moton headed back to Montgomery. While getting gas at a local filling station, they were subject to abusive, racist comments by other customers.

Liuzzo was stopped at a red light when a car with four white men pulled up alongside. When they saw the white woman and black man together, they followed Liuzzo as she tried to outrun them. They overtook the Oldsmobile and shot directly at Liuzzo, mortally wounding her twice in the head. The car veered into a ditch, crashing into a fence. The men were found to be members of the local Ku Klux Klan, including Gary Thomas Rowe, an FBI informant.

“She was an American civil rights activist in Detroit, Michigan. She was killed by the Ku Klux Klan for intermingling. She was going to Alabama in March 1965 to support the Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights. On March 25, 1965, she was shot dead by three Klan members while driving activists between the cities and transportation. To deflect attention from the FBI, its head J. Edgar Hoover made defamatory claims about Liuzzo. Three of the men were charged with murder by the state, but not convicted. The federal government charged the three KKK members with conspiracy to intimidate African Americans under the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act, a Reconstruction era civil rights statute. On December 3, the trio was found guilty by an all-white, all-male jury, a landmark in Southern legal history. They were sentenced to ten years in prison. In 1983, after learning about the FBI's activities related to the Liuzzo case, her family filed a lawsuit against the FBI for not preventing her death and for damages because of false accusations. The court dismissed the lawsuit.”

Viola Liuzzo

I saw on Twitter a reporter speaking with Jocelyn Benson about this plate. And Benson says whe wanted to honor the memory of Viola Liuzzo who was killed in her oldsmobile--bearing a Water-Winter Wonderland license plate--by Klu Klux Klansmen after a march for voting rights in Selma, Alabama in 1965.

I had never heard of Viola Liuzzo and reading the article at Wikipedia really blew my mind. One aspect of the horrifying story is that one of the Klansmen involved in her murder was an FBI informant. In order to obscure that fact the FBI launched a smear campaign against Liuzzo telling the press and lawmakers falsehoods, among them that there were "puncture marks in her arm indicating recent use of a hypodermic needle; she was sitting very, very close to that negro in the car; that it has the appearance of a necking party."

Where are the statues of Viola Liuzzo?

By Stephen Millies

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo doesn’t think the statue of Christopher Columbus in New York City’s Columbus Circle should be removed. Cuomo said that the statue “represents in some ways the Italian American legacy in the country, and the Italian American contribution in this country.”

In 1965, Viola Liuzzo paid the ultimate price to march in support of civil rights: her life. She was the only white woman to be murdered during the civil rights movement.

In 1964, Viola joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and took part in the fight for civil rights. She organised Detroit protests and attended civil rights conferences. She watched in horror as Alabama state troopers, armed with batons, bull whips and tear gas, attacked the civil rights marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge outside Selma. Afterwards, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. issued a call for Americans to join the marchers in Selma, Alabama. Viola wanted to make a difference and took heed to what he was saying.

It was the 25th of March, 1965, when Viola set out from her home in Detroit to Selma, Alabama, to join in the march for voting rights. Following the march, Viola was driving a fellow marcher home - Leroy Morton, who was African American. As they filled up their car at a local gas station, they were subjected to racist abuse. Shortly afterwards, while stopped at a red lighted, a car with four members of the Ku Klux Klan pulled up alongside them. Upon seeing a white woman with an African American man, they followed the car as Viola attempted to outrun them. When the car caught up with Viola and Leroy, they shot directly at Viola, hitting her twice in the head. She veered into a ditch. Viola died there at the scene. The bullets all missed Leroy but Viola’s blood spattered over his body. He lay motionless and pretended to be dead when the Klansmen came over to the vehicle to check both were dead. When the Klansmen left, Leroy ran for help.

One of the Klansmen, Gary Thomas Rowe Jr., was an FBI informant who failed to stop the killing. In an attempt to divert the attention away from him, Viola’s reputation was besmirched by the U.S. government. She was the symbol of everything the South despised: a white won an travelling in a car with an African American man. The FBI accused her of having an affair, abandoning her family, and having needle marks on her arm; all of which was untrue. Southern newspapers wrote that Viola got what she deserved. But despite the smear campaign, Viola didn’t die in vain. 

In memory of our sister, Viola Liuzzo who gave her life in the struggle for the right to vote

March 25,1965.

Inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr., Viola Liuzzo, a 39-year-old mother of 5 children, traveled from Detroit to Selma to participate in the civil rights marches.

Liuzzo had been active in the civil rights movement in Detroit since at least 1964, when she joined the NAACP and helped organize protests in Detroit.

After taking part in a protest at Wayne State on 16 March, Liuzzo arranged to have her children stay with a family friend and traveled to Selma, where she volunteered to use her car to transport other protesters back and forth from the airport, bus stations, and train stations.

After the conclusion of the 3rd march on 25 March 1965, Liuzzo was shuttling passengers from Montgomery to Selma with 19-year-old Leroy Morton. On their return trip to Montgomery a car with 4 members of the Ku Klux Klan pulled alongside Liuzzo and Morton and threatened them. When Liuzzo tried to outrun the car, the Klan chased after her, caught up to her and shot Liuzzo twice in the head. The car went off the road and crashed into a fence. Morton was covered in blood and unconscious, but the Klansmen thought he was dead, and left the scene.

The four Klan members in the car, William Eaton (41), Gary Rowe (34), Eugene Thomas (42), and Collie Wilkins (21) were quickly arrested. It was discovered that Rowe was an FBI informant who had participated in numerous acts of violence against civil rights activists. Rowe was given immunity, testified against the other 3 murderers, and placed in the Witness Protection Program.

A mistrial was declared in the first trial, the second ended in acquittal. The 3 were finally convicted in December in a federal trial, which had charged them with “conspiracy to intimidate“ under an 1871 law from Reconstruction. Eaton died of a heart attack on 9 March 1966. Thomas served 6 years in prison.