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
- New leadership team takes helm at State Bar
- Governor signs legislation to protect Michigan children, consumers, and communities
- Nessel argues to cut Consumers Energy rate hike in half
- Detroit man bound over on two counts of transporting individuals for prostitution
- Howell man arraigned for allegedly threatening judge
headlines National
- Melissa Hart, the chair of the ABA Legal Ed council, dies
- Judge suspended after indictment over alleged perjury
- Bill Withers’ music publisher files copyright suit over Olivia Dean’s ‘I’ve Seen It’
- Judge reinstates US attorney in Washington fired by Trump
- Interim law dean of University of Florida named to permanent role
- Clio acquires Learned Hand, an AI company for courts, judges
