Recently I was criticized by some for displaying two scantily clad women in an article about white women who were willing to sacrifice their safety and even their lives to participate in the American Civil Rights Movement. The people said it was disrespectful to do so, and I agree. I ashamed of the photo I used for the article, it was very poor judgment. I will repost the article at a later date with a new photo, but I will keep that version up to remind myself that I can not allow that to happen again. These are very REAL stories that deserve respect and dignity.
The following is a heart breaking story about a white woman the world has forgotten, and sadly but not to my suprise buried in the archives and never talked about by the African-American community. It is a story about sadly the only white woman honored at the Montgomery Boycott Memorial. While I must admit it was African-Americans who had to handle most of the heat for the boycott white families suffered as well and for them, why cant they be more honored. Would teaching young African-Americans that some white people were willing to die for them back then really hurt anything? As I said the African-American community in particular the black women have something against white women I believe.
Viola Gregg Liuzzo
Viola Liuzzo (1925-1965) aided protesters during the civil rights movement of the early 1960s in Alabama. She was killed in a Ku Klux Klan attack in 1965 and is the only white woman honored at the Montgomery Civil Rights Memorial.Viola Liuzzo:
True Kindness assasinatedViola Fauver was born in Pennsylvania on 11th April, 1925. As a child, Viola lived in Tennessee and Georgia. After an unsuccessful marriage and the birth of two children, Viola married Anthony J. Liuzzo, a Teamster Union official from Detroit. Viola had three more children and at the age of 36 she resumed her education at Wayne State University. After graduating with top honors Viola became a medical lab technician.
A member of the NAACP, Viola decided to take part in the Selma to Montgomery March on 25th March, 1965, where Martin Luther King led 25,000 people to the Alabama State Capitol and handed a petition to Governor George Wallace, demanding voting rights for African Americans. After the demonstration had finished, Viola volunteered to help drive marchers back to Montgomery Airport. Leroy Moton, a young African American, offered to work as her co-driver.
On the way back from one of these trips to the airport, Viola and Leroy, were passed by a car carrying four members of the Ku Klux Klan from Birmingham. When they saw a white woman and black man in the car together, they immediately knew that they had both been taking part in the civil rights demonstration at Montgomery. The men decided to kill them and after driving alongside Viola’s car, one of the men, Collie Wilkins, put his arm out of the window, and fired his gun. Viola Liuzzo was hit in the head twice and died instantly. Leroy was uninjured and was able to get the car under control before it crashed.
The four men in the car, Collie Wilkins (21), Gary Rowe (34), William Eaton (41) and Eugene Thomas (42) were quickly arrested. Rowe, an FBI undercover agent, testifed against the other three men. In an attempt to prejudice the case, rumours began to circulate that Viola was a member of the Communist Party and had abandoned her five children in order to have sexual relationships with African Americans involved in the civil rights movement. It was later discovered that these highly damaging stories that appeared in the press had come from the FBI.
Despite Rowe’s testimony, the three members of the Ku Klux Klan were acquitted of murder by an Alabama jury. President Lyndon Johnson, instructed his officials to arrange for the men to be charged under an 1870 federal law of conspiring to deprive Viola Liuzzo of her civil rights. Wilkins, Eaton and Thomas were found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The main stream media can ignore this all they want, but one day the truth shall come out! This woman deserves better than what she got, she is a Civil Rights Hero! Please notify your family and friends about this woman!
Yes it is quite true that many non-blacks have also been involved in the civil rights movement in America (and elsewhere in the world), and are largely unsung and unknown heroes.
Right! There have always been white women (and men) since the time of slavery who were for the equal rights and fair treatment of all people, and absolutely resisted the idea of slavery and all those other injustices. And many civil rights historians and others know that too, but you never hear about it or see it depicted in the movies.
Viola was not only a very strong-willed woman of good character, but she was very pretty too.
Black women are still better looking 😀
i would have White girls second
Latino/Hispanic girls third and Asians last.
When they’re standing together side by side for civil rights and fair treatment of all people regardless of race, they’re all equally beautiful as far as I’m concerned.
Much agreed, this isnt an article about outer beauty this is about inner beauty and the non-black women of that time were very beautiful because they really did stand for something.
Being a white woman in the Civil Rights Movement was beyond brave given the racial state of the country during the time. They were often accused, by racists, of having sexual relationships with black men. I’ve done alot of research on this topic recently, and the white women involved in civil rights had to put up with all kinds of abuse from segregationists.
I am black and I’ve known about Viola for some time. We have also always known about many whites who for abolitionists- are you serious? Viola was an amazing woman and I personally don’t believe she would consider you the type of person she was. She was open-minded and believed in equality for everyone. You are ignorant and believe in complaining about something that isn’t there for the sake of pushing some prejudice agenda.