Wayne State University plans to award Viola Gregg Liuzzo an honorary doctor of laws degree on April 10. It's the first posthumous honorary degree in the 145-year-old school's history. Liuzzo was fatally shot by Klansmen while shuttling demonstrators after the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march. Wayne State also will dedicate a tree or green space for Liuzzo. Kim Trent, a member of Wayne State's Board of Governors, initially broached the idea a decade ago as president of Wayne State's black alumni organization. The school declined, citing its policy of not awarding posthumous degrees, Trent said. "The truth of the matter is that Viola is worthy because she is deceased," Trent said. "She is a civil rights martyr. I understood there was something more important at stake." Trent was elected to the same board in 2012, and recently took another run at recognition for Liuzzo. They passed the recommendation in February. Liuzzo was a nursing student at Wayne State when she joined the civil rights movement. At the time of her death, the white, 39-year-old mother also was a member of Detroit's branch of the NAACP.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/03/21/us/ap-us-civil-rights-activist-honor.html?_r=0
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2015/0321/Civil-rights-activist-shot-by-Klansman-will-receive-honorary-degree
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2015/03/slain_civil_rights_activist_fr.html
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http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20150322/NEWS/150329930/1007?Title=Civil-rights-activist-slain-in-Alabama-to-be-given-posthumous-degree
http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/2015/03/22/civil-rights-activist-to-receive-posthum-368463.php
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