Monument honoring civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo and friend unveiled in Detroit park

By COREY WILLIAMS
Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — A monument has been unveiled in Detroit that commemorates a white mother slain while doing civil rights work in Alabama in 1965 and the Black friend who helped raise her children after her death. A ceremony was held Thursday at Viola Liuzzo Park to honor Liuzzo and Sarah Evans. The 7-foot granite monument features photo images of Liuzzo and Evans. Liuzzo was a white nursing student in Detroit when she drove to Alabama to help the civil rights movement. She was hit by gunfire while shuttling demonstrators after the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march. Three Ku Klux Klan members were convicted in her death.