Viola Liuzzo

Viola Liuzzo
Picture of Gregg, 1949
Born
Viola Fauver Gregg

(1925-04-11)April 11, 1925
California, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedMarch 25, 1965(1965-03-25) (aged 39)
Selma, Alabama, U.S.
Cause of deathAssassination (gunshot wounds)
Resting placeHoly Sepulchre Cemetery Southfield, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation(s)Housewife, civil rights activist
Children5

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.[1][2] To deflect attention from the FBI, its head J. Edgar Hoover made defamatory claims about Liuzzo.[3][4][5][6]

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.[7]

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.

  1. ^ "Viola Liuzzo". Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist Biography. Uua.org. Archived from the original on March 16, 2013. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
  2. ^ "Government Evils Not To Be Forgotten". JrHighDropOut.com. Archived from the original on March 23, 2022. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Stanton p53 and p189 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Blake p201 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Viola Liuzzo". uudb.org. Archived from the original on February 20, 2014. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
  6. ^ name="news.google.com">Jack Anderson (March 21, 1983)."Hoover smear tactics hurt civil rights case". The Evening News.
  7. ^ Kaufman, Michael T. (October 4, 1998). "Gary T. Rowe Jr., 64, Who Informed on Klan In Civil Rights Killing, Is Dead". The New York Times. Retrieved October 16, 2014.