DETROIT (AP) — Wayne State University has honored a former student and Detroit mother fatally shot by Klansmen while shuttling demonstrators after the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march.
An honorary doctor of laws degree was awarded last Friday to Viola Gregg Liuzzo for her contributions to society.
It’s the first posthumous honorary degree in the 145-year-old school’s history. Wayne State also dedicated a plaque in her name.
Four of Liuzzo’s five children attended the ceremony.
Liuzzo was a 39-year-old nursing student when she drove to Alabama to help in the civil rights movement.
She was struck in the head by shots fired from a passing car. Her black passenger, 19-year-old Leroy Moton, was wounded.
Three Ku Klux Klan members were convicted of federal charges in Liuzzo’s death.
- Posted April 15, 2015
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
WSU honors slain civil rights activist with honorary degree
headlines Macomb
- Macomb County Meals on Wheels in urgent need of volunteers ahead of holiday season
- MDHHS hosting three, free virtual baby showers in November and December for new or expecting families
- MDHHS secures nearly 100 new juvenile justice placements through partnerships with local communities and providers
- MDHHS seeking proposals for student internship stipend program to enhance behavioral health workforce
- ABA webinar November 30 to explore the state of civil legal aid in America
headlines National
- Facing deadline, California debates way forward on bar exam
- ACLU and BigLaw firm use ‘Orange is the New Black’ in hashtag effort to promote NY jail reform
- Jury awards nearly $60M to former police officer for wrongful prosecution in sex assault case
- Court clerk staffers in New Orleans dig through landfill to find wrongly tossed court records
- Once-jailed county clerk asks Supreme Court to overturn right to same-sex marriage
- Person accused in machete attack among those with dropped charges amid defense lawyer work stoppage
