Viola Liuzzo was an ordinary mother who made an extraordinary choice. A 39-year-old from Detroit, she left her husband and five children to join Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 — determined to stand against injustice.
After the march ended, Viola volunteered to drive fellow activists along dark Alabama highways. That night, members of the Ku Klux Klan chased her car and opened fire. She was killed instantly. Her passenger, a young Black man named Leroy Moton, survived by pretending to be dead.
Her murder shocked the nation — a white woman from the North killed for defending Black rights. It exposed the depth of America’s racial hatred and helped push forward the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Though her killers escaped murder convictions, Viola’s courage became a symbol of moral conviction. She wasn’t a politician or a hero by title — just a mother who believed that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
She left home to fight for freedom — and in her death, she helped secure it.
My personal Selma experience: Through my work with Sheila Raye Charles, I had the opportunity to participate in the Selma March 50th Anniversary. It was a moving experience.
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