Jackson, Edwin L

Description

Location: Ga. Highway 172 and Broad River Bridge, Madison/Elbert County BorderText of marker: "LT. COL. LEMUEL PENN AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT. On the night of July 11, 1964 three African-American World War II veterans returning home following training at Ft. Benning, Georgia were noticed in Athens by local memers of the Ku Klux Klan. The officers were followed to the nearby Broad River Bridge where their pursuers fired into the vehicle, killing Lt. Col. Lemuel Penn. When a local jury failed to convict the suspects of murder, the federal government successfully prosecuted the men for violations under the new Civil Rights Act of 1964, passed just nine days before Penn's murder. The case was instrumental in the creation of a Justice Department task force whose work culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1968. 97-1 Erected by the Georgia Historical Society, Lemuel Penn Memorial Committee, and Colbert Grove Baptist Church 2006.7"

Record Contributed By

Digital Library of Georgia

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia