One of the most understated white women in black history is Viola Gregg Liuzzo, who was killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan for her work in helping blacks in the south to secure voting rights during the Civil Rights Movement. She put her life on the line, and they took it from her.
She worked as a waitress in Detroit, and was a wife and mother of five by the age of 39. She attended Wayne State University, where she wrote some inspiring reports about the Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964. She also marched with blacks for voting rights down in Selma, Al.
When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. appealed to America to come to Alabama to help. Mrs. Liuzzo answered the call and lost her life as a result.
The White House should finally recognize her for all of the work that she did.