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On This Day: Civil rights worker killed after Selma march

On March 25, 1965, white civil rights worker Viola Liuzzo of Detroit, 39, was killed on a road near Selma, Ala. Three Ku Klux Klansmen were convicted of violating Liuzzo's civil rights, but not for murder.
By UPI Staff   |   March 25, 2020 at 3:00 AM
Dr. Martin Luther King leads an estimated 10,000 or more civil-rights marchers out on last leg of their Selma-to-Montgomery march on March 25,1965. Later that day, civil rights worker Viola Liuzzo of Detroit, 39, was killed by the Ku Klux Klan on a road near Selma, Ala., while shuttling marchers back to Montgomery. UPI File Photo U.S. President Bill Clinton walks with a group of U.S. troops just back from Somalia at a ceremony to honor them on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on May 5, 1993. On March 25, 1994, U.S. forces completed a withdrawal from Mogadishu, Somalia, except for a small number of soldiers left behind to provide support for U.N. peacekeepers. UPI File Photo A police officer surveys the damage after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire on March 25, 1911, in New York, New York. File Photo by a Brown Brothers/Cornell University On March 25, 1807, the English Parliament abolished the slave trade. File Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI

March 25 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1807, the English Parliament abolished the slave trade.

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In 1911, a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City killed 146 people, mostly female immigrant workers. The tragedy led to the eventual enactment of many state and national workplace safety laws.

In 1947, a mine explosion in Centralia, Ill., killed 111 men, most of them asphyxiated by gas.

In 1954, the Radio Corporation of America began commercial production of color television sets.

File Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI

In 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and West Germany signed a treaty in Rome establishing the European Economic Community, also known as the common market.

In 1965, white civil rights worker Viola Liuzzo of Detroit, 39, was killed on a road near Selma, Ala. Three Ku Klux Klansmen were convicted of violating Liuzzo's civil rights, but not for murder.

In 1975, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was shot to death at his palace in Riyadh by a "mentally deranged" nephew who was later executed.

In 1990, an arson fire swept an overcrowded social club, the Happy Land, in the Bronx borough of New York City, killing 87 people. Cuban refugee Julio Gonzalez, the arsonist -- whose former girlfriend worked at the club and survived the fire -- was convicted on multiple counts of arson and murder. He died in prison in September 2016.

In 1994, U.S. forces completed a withdrawal from Mogadishu, Somalia, except for a small number of soldiers left behind to provide support for U.N. peacekeepers.

In 2006, an estimated 500,000 people protested in Los Angeles against U.S. House-approved bill that would make it a felony to be in the United States illegally. The legislation, which also led to protests in other cities during this period, did not pass in the Senate.

File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI

In 2010, an explosion sank a South Korean warship on patrol in the Yellow Sea, killing 46 sailors. North Korea denied accusations it had torpedoed the ship.

In 2019, NASA canceled what would have been the first all-female spacewalk at the International Space Station because it didn't have the right size spacesuits for both women to complete the mission. The first all-female spacewalk with Jessica Meir and Christina Koch eventually took place seen months later.

File Photo courtesy of NASA