Viola Liuzzo

Last Sunday, I talked about Viola Liuzzo, the civil rights (and Unitarian Universalist) hero and martyr. Right now, learning more about the prophetic people who came before us not only honors their stories, it gives us a chance to learn from their lives.

There’s much to admire about Viola, so much that I couldn’t put it all in one sermon. After having 5 children, she wanted to do even more with her life, and so she went back to school. Previously a high school dropout, she first went to the Carnegie Institute of Technology to become a medical assistant (she graduated with honors), then she began classes at Wayne University in Detroit, where she was attending when she went to Selma.

She obviously was one of those people who led with her heart, a generous soul who prioritizing caring for others. While in Selma, she stayed with the Jackson family, who had a new grandson in their house. Viola helped care for him when she returned after working at the march and quickly got to know his teenage mother. They began making plans for after the march, for mom and baby to return with Viola to Detroit, where they would live with her and her family, and Viola could care for the baby while the mom went to school. “Liuzzo was very serious about this; on Wednesday, she telephoned a Detroit clergyman to announce that she intended to adopt the black daughter of the woman with whom she was living. (May, Gary. The Informant: The FBI, the Klu Klux Klan, and the Murder of Viola Luzzo (p. 143).)

If you would like to learn more about Viola, I recommend:

Book: From Selma to Sorrow: The Life and Death of Viola Liuzzo by Mary Stanton
https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/viola-gregg-liuzzo/
Documentary, streaming on Amazon: Home of the Brave
The tragic and forgotten story of Viola Liuzzo