A white housewife and a mother of five children, Viola Liuzzo felt called to action by the words of Martin Luther King Jr., and she left her Michigan home to work in Alabama with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1965.
While she was serving as a volunteer during the historic Selma to Montgomery marches, Liuzzo was shot dead by members of the Ku Klux Klan.
The film is a historical account of her life which is presented in the form of a montage which consists of archival footage, narrated by the actress Stockard Channing and it is laced with extensive interviews by Liuzzo's family members and contemporaries.
[1] Home of the Brave was nominated for the 2004 IDA Award by the International Documentary Association,[2] and was selected for competition at that year's Sundance Festival.
The New York Times praised di Florio's "poignant documentary" for depicting "the freshly outraging story of Liuzzo's death and of her difficult legacy to her children."