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Dedication Planned At Detroit Park Named After Civil Rights Activist

DETROIT (AP) — A dedication ceremony is planned at a renovated Detroit park named after a civil rights activist slain in 1965 in Alabama.

A ribbon-cutting will be held Saturday morning at Liuzzo Park in northwest Detroit. The Viola Liuzzo Park Association secured funding from several sources to make improvements to the park which is part of Mayor Mike Duggan's initiative to renovate city parks and playgrounds.

Liuzzo was shot by Klansmen while shuttling demonstrators after the historic Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march. Detroit later named the park on Winthrop Street in her honor.

Liuzzo studied nursing at Wayne State University in Detroit before joining the civil rights movement. The school awarded a posthumous honorary doctor of laws degree in 2015 to Liuzzo and established a scholarship fund in her name.

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