From Selma to sorrow

Mary Stanton

More than thirty years after the murder of Viola Liuzzo by the Ku Klux Klan, she remains an enigma. Some saw her as a dedicated civil rights worker, others as a troubled housewife. Some thought she was a victim of random violence or government conspiracy, while others thought she was an unfit mother who got what she deserved. From Selma to Sorrow is the first full-length biography of the only white woman honored at the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery. At the time of her death she was married to a high-ranking Teamster and had five children. While a part-time student at Wayne State University, she became involved in civil rights protests and decided to participate in a voting rights march in Selma, Alabama. On March 25, 1975, Liuzzo and a young black man named Leroy Moton were on their way from Selma to Montgomery after the march. Klansmen followed Liuzzo's car along Highway 80...