Viola Liuzzo facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Viola Liuzzo
Picture of Gregg, 1949
Born	Viola Fauver Gregg (1925-04-11)April 11, 1925 California, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	March 25, 1965(1965-03-25) (aged 39) Selma, Alabama, U.S.
Cause of death	Homicide (gunshot wounds)
Resting place	Holy Sepulchre Cemetery Southfield, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation	Housewife, civil rights activist
Children	5

Viola Fauver Liuzzo (born Gregg; April 11, 1925 – March 25, 1965) was an American civil rights activist. She worked to make sure all people had equal rights, no matter their race. In March 1965, Viola Liuzzo heard a call from Martin Luther King Jr.. She traveled from Detroit, Michigan, to Selma, Alabama. This was after an event called Bloody Sunday, where marchers were hurt trying to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Liuzzo joined the successful Selma to Montgomery marches. She helped organize and manage things for the marchers. When she was 39, she was driving activists to the Montgomery airport. Members of the Ku Klux Klan shot at her car, and she was killed. One of the men, Gary Thomas Rowe, was secretly working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The State of Alabama could not convict the men for murder. However, three men were found guilty in federal court. They were charged with trying to scare African Americans. This was under a law from 1871. They were sentenced to ten years in prison. This was an important moment in Southern legal history.

Gary Rowe said that Collie Wilkins fired the shots. The FBI put Rowe in a special program to protect witnesses. The FBI also spread false information about Liuzzo. They said she was a Communist and had left her children. They also claimed she had a relationship with an African-American man. This was done to hide that Rowe was their informant. In 1983, Liuzzo's family sued the FBI. They learned about the FBI's actions. However, the lawsuit was dismissed. Viola Liuzzo's name is now on the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama.

Early Life and Family

Viola Fauver Gregg was born on April 11, 1925. She grew up in a small town called California, Pennsylvania. Her mother, Eva Wilson, was a teacher. Her father, Heber Ernest Gregg, was a coal miner. Heber taught himself to read. Eva had a teaching certificate. Viola had a younger sister, Rose Mary.

Her father lost his right hand in a mine explosion. During the Great Depression, the family became very poor. They depended only on Eva's teaching income. It was hard for Mrs. Gregg to find steady work. The family moved often, looking for jobs. When Viola was six, they moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The family lived in very simple homes. They often had no running water. The schools Viola attended did not have many supplies. Teachers were too busy to give extra help. Because her family moved so much, Viola never finished a school year in the same place. Growing up poor in Tennessee, Viola saw how the South was segregated. This experience strongly influenced her later work for civil rights.

Life in Michigan

In 1941, Viola's family moved to Ypsilanti, Michigan. Her father found a job at Ford Motor Co. Viola was strong-willed. She left high school after one year and got married at age 16. This marriage did not last, and she returned to her family.

Two years later, the Gregg family moved to Detroit, Michigan. This city was also very segregated by race. There was a lot of tension between white and Black people. In the early 1940s, there were riots and violence. Seeing these terrible events motivated Viola to work for civil rights.

In 1943, she married George Argyris. He was a restaurant manager where she worked. They had two daughters, Penny and Evangeline Mary. They divorced in 1949. Later, she married Anthony Liuzzo. He was a union leader for the Teamsters. They had three children: Tommy, Anthony Jr., and Sally. Viola wanted to go back to school. She attended the Carnegie Institute in Detroit. Then, in 1962, she started studying part-time at Wayne State University.

In 1964, she joined the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Detroit. She also became a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Viola's close friendship with Sarah Evans, an African-American woman, was important. They met at a grocery store where Liuzzo worked. Sarah later became Liuzzo's housekeeper. They remained close friends and shared similar views on civil rights. After Viola's death, Sarah Evans became the caretaker for Viola's five young children.

Viola deeply believed in the fight for civil rights. She helped organize protests in Detroit. She attended civil rights meetings. She worked with the NAACP. She strongly wanted to make a big difference.

Local Activism for Change

Viola Liuzzo was a strong supporter of the civil rights movement. She also protested against Detroit's laws about students dropping out of school. She disagreed with these laws. To show her protest, she took her own children out of school for two months. Because of this, Liuzzo was arrested. But she did not change her mind. She pleaded guilty in court and was put on probation.

The Selma Marches

In February 1965, a protest for voting rights in Marion, Alabama, turned violent. Police officers hurt marchers. They beat and shot a 26-year-old African-American man named Jimmie Lee Jackson. He later died. His death sparked more protests in Selma, Alabama. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) planned a protest march for Sunday, March 7, 1965.

Governor George Wallace banned the march, but people ignored the ban. Six hundred marchers headed for the Edmund Pettus Bridge. This bridge crossed the Alabama River. As they reached the top of the bridge, they saw state troopers. The troopers had clubs, whips, and teargas. A sheriff's group on horseback was also there. When told to stop, the marchers refused. The troopers attacked the marchers. They used clubs and whips, breaking bones and cutting heads. Seventeen people went to the hospital. This day was later called "Bloody Sunday."

Viola Liuzzo was shocked by the images of Bloody Sunday. A second march took place on March 9. Troopers and marchers faced each other at the bridge. But the troopers stepped aside. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led the marchers back to the church. He was following a court order. That night, a white group killed civil rights activist James Reeb. He was a minister from Boston who had come to Selma to march. Many other religious leaders and supporters came from all over the country for the second march.

On March 16, Liuzzo joined a protest at Wayne State. She then called her husband. She told him she was going to Selma. She had heard Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ask people of all faiths to come help. He said the struggle "was everybody's fight." She left her children with family and friends. She contacted the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. They asked her to deliver aid, welcome volunteers, and drive people. She used her own car, a 1963 Oldsmobile.

On March 21, 1965, more than 3,000 people began the third march. There were Black and white people, doctors, nurses, and many others. Famous people like Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King participated. It took five days to reach their goal. Liuzzo marched the first full day. She returned to Selma for the night. On Wednesday, March 24, she rejoined the march. A celebration with entertainers like Harry Belafonte was held. Liuzzo helped at the first aid station. On Thursday, Liuzzo and other marchers reached the state capitol building. A Confederate flag flew above it. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to 25,000 people. He called the march a "shining moment in American history."

Her Death

After the third march ended on March 25, Viola Liuzzo continued to help. She drove marchers and volunteers from Montgomery back to Selma. Leroy Moton, a 19-year-old African American man, helped her. James Orange, an SCLC veteran, warned Liuzzo it was dangerous. He told her not to go out to Montgomery.

As they drove on Route 80, another car tried to force them off the road. After dropping off passengers in Selma, Liuzzo and Moton headed back to Montgomery. When Liuzzo stopped at a red light, a car pulled up next to her. It had four members of the local Ku Klux Klan. One was FBI informant Gary Rowe. When they saw a white woman and a Black man together, they followed Liuzzo. She tried to drive away faster. They caught up to her Oldsmobile and shot at Liuzzo. Her car went into a ditch and crashed. Moton survived the crash and found help.

Liuzzo's funeral was held on March 30 in Detroit. Many important civil rights leaders and government officials attended. These included Martin Luther King Jr., NAACP director Roy Wilkins, and Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa. She was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield, Michigan.

Legal Actions After Her Death

The four Klan members in the car were quickly arrested. They were Collie Wilkins, Gary Rowe (the FBI informant), William Eaton, and Eugene Thomas. Within 24 hours, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced their arrest on TV. President Johnson focused on the FBI's work in solving the murder. This was to hide the fact that Gary Thomas Rowe Jr. was an FBI informant.

Wilkins, Eaton, and Thomas were charged in Alabama for Liuzzo's death on April 22. FBI informant Rowe was not charged. He served as a witness. Rowe said that Wilkins had fired two shots because Thomas told him to.

On December 3, the three men were found guilty by a jury. They were sentenced to ten years in prison. This was a very important legal decision in the South.

On April 27, 1967, a court upheld the federal convictions. Thomas served six years in prison. Gary Thomas Rowe went into a federal witness protection program. This was because of threats from the Klan. Rowe died in 1998. He had lived for decades using different names.

Her Lasting Impact

Viola Liuzzo's story continues to be remembered:

• She was featured in a video series called Free at Last: Civil Rights Heroes.
• Her murder was shown in the TV series King.
• Viola Liuzzo Park is in Detroit.
• Her name is on the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama. This monument was created by Maya Lin.
• In 2004, a documentary called Home of the Brave was made about her.
• In 2008, blues singer Robin Rogers wrote a song about Liuzzo called "Color Blind Angel."
• An episode of the TV show Cold Case was based on her story.
• In 2011, the Viola Liuzzo Ethics Scholarship started at Adrian College. Her grandson, Joshua James Liuzzo, created it.
• In 2014, a play called Outside Agitators was written. It was inspired by Liuzzo's story.
• Viola Liuzzo was played by Tara Ochs in the 2014 film Selma.
• In 2015, Wayne State University gave Liuzzo its first honorary doctorate degree after her death.
• In 2019, a statue honoring Liuzzo was unveiled in Detroit.
• In 2021, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson began re-issuing 1965 license plates. One of these was on Liuzzo's car when she drove to Alabama. Secretary Benson said she re-issued the plate to honor Viola Liuzzo. She was moved by Liuzzo's fight for voting rights.

Images for kids

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  Picture of Gregg, 1949

See also