Viola Liuzzo remembered as Detroit civil rights martyr
By Joanne Giannino
Michigan History
... she joined 3,000 others in Selma as they marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the site of Bloody Sunday, and began the trek toward Montgomery.
When the march was over, Liuzzo met civil rights worker Leroy Moton, who had been using her car all day as an airport shuttle. They drove five passengers back to Selma. When they were dropped off, Viola volunteered to return Moton to Montgomery.
... "Between the airport and Selma, a car full of whites drove up behind them and banged into the bumper of the Oldsmobile several times before passing. ... Further along, the driver of another car turned on his high beams and left them shining into Vi's rearview mirror. 'Two can play at that game,' she said and slowed, making the offending car pass her. Finally, when another car pulled up alongside the Oldsmobile while one in front slowed down, Vi had to jam on her brakes. They were boxed in, one of the passengers remembers, but Mrs. Liuzzo seemed to be more annoyed than afraid.
... After the passengers were delivered, he and three other members of a KKK "missionary squad" — William Orville Eaton, Eugene Thomas, and Collie Leroy Wilkins Jr. — spotted Liuzzo and Moton stopped at a traffic light in Selma. They followed her car for 20 miles. About halfway between Selma and Montgomery, the four men pulled their car up next to hers and shot at her. Liuzzo was killed instantly ... Not one of the four KKK members was convicted of murder ...
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/10/viola_liuzzo_remembered_as_det.html
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