AN UNEXPECTED DEATH
By Grace
Throughout the Civil Rights Movement, many activists lost their lives because they were willing to die for a cause they believed in. One of them is Viola Gregg Liuzzo. Liuzzo was the first and only white female to die during the Civil Rights Movement. She was married to Anthony Liuzzo, had four children, and lived in California. In March of 1965, she traveled to Selma, Alabama to help with the national voting rights movement, leaving her family behind. Like many people, she assumed once the Civil Rights Movement was over, she could go home to her family. Unfortunately, Liuzzo didn’t.
During her time in Alabama, she worked for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, or SCLC. In March of 1965, Liuzzo took part in the freedom march from Selma to Montgomery as a driver to take people back to Selma after the marches and meetings. On March 25th, after the successful completion of the march, MLK gave his famous speech “How Long, Not Long” in front of the capitol building in Montgomery. After, Liuzzo made many trips to transport people back to Selma. One was with an African-American teenager named Leroy Moten. When they were driving along Highway 80, Liuzzo noticed a suspicious car behind them, and soon realized that they were being targeted. The two cars became involved in a high-speed chase. Inside the other car were four white men, Klan members. They caught up to Liuzzo’s vehicle, and fired multiple bullets. Liuzzo died immediately, while Moten pretended to be dead.
Moten survived and later wrote articles about Liuzzo’s death and his experience. The next day President Lyndon B. Johnson announced on live television that they arrested four men, three of the men were charged with conspiracy to violate Liuzzo’s civil rights but were not charged with murder. The fourth man was revealed to be an undercover FBI agent and was not charged. Liuzzo’s death was very influential, not only because it gave people a new way of looking at the KKK. Liuzzo’s death prompted President Lyndon B. Johnson to start investigating the Ku Klux Klan. Now Liuzzo is known as a Civil Rights martyr and her memory lives on in Selma and beyond.
During her time in Alabama, she worked for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, or SCLC. In March of 1965, Liuzzo took part in the freedom march from Selma to Montgomery as a driver to take people back to Selma after the marches and meetings. On March 25th, after the successful completion of the march, MLK gave his famous speech “How Long, Not Long” in front of the capitol building in Montgomery. After, Liuzzo made many trips to transport people back to Selma. One was with an African-American teenager named Leroy Moten. When they were driving along Highway 80, Liuzzo noticed a suspicious car behind them, and soon realized that they were being targeted. The two cars became involved in a high-speed chase. Inside the other car were four white men, Klan members. They caught up to Liuzzo’s vehicle, and fired multiple bullets. Liuzzo died immediately, while Moten pretended to be dead.
Moten survived and later wrote articles about Liuzzo’s death and his experience. The next day President Lyndon B. Johnson announced on live television that they arrested four men, three of the men were charged with conspiracy to violate Liuzzo’s civil rights but were not charged with murder. The fourth man was revealed to be an undercover FBI agent and was not charged. Liuzzo’s death was very influential, not only because it gave people a new way of looking at the KKK. Liuzzo’s death prompted President Lyndon B. Johnson to start investigating the Ku Klux Klan. Now Liuzzo is known as a Civil Rights martyr and her memory lives on in Selma and beyond.