Viola Gregg Liuzzo Quote
[We're] going to change the world. One day they'll write about us. You'll see.
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activist, change the world, civil rights, history, humanity, inspirational, one day, peace, people, see
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About Viola Gregg Liuzzo
Viola Fauver Liuzzo (née Gregg; April 11, 1925 – March 25, 1965) was an American civil rights activist in Detroit, Michigan. She was known for 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 Ku Klux Klan members while driving activists between the cities and transportation.
Also in the pursuit car was an undercover informant working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). His role in this and other events was not revealed until 1978. 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 informant Gary T. Rowe was not charged.) 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.
As the FBI informant testified in court, he was put in the witness protection program for his safety. He lived until 1998.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 was given many honors posthumously; her name was inscribed on the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama. Her grandson set up a scholarship in her honor. Wayne State University holds papers in a special collection of the library, associated with her life and death.
Also in the pursuit car was an undercover informant working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). His role in this and other events was not revealed until 1978. 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 informant Gary T. Rowe was not charged.) 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.
As the FBI informant testified in court, he was put in the witness protection program for his safety. He lived until 1998.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 was given many honors posthumously; her name was inscribed on the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama. Her grandson set up a scholarship in her honor. Wayne State University holds papers in a special collection of the library, associated with her life and death.