A Klan killing in Georgia

There is now a historical marker near the bridge over Broad River where Penn was murdered. (David W. Thornton)

In the early morning of July 11, 1964, three U.S. Army officers passed through Athens to their homes in Washington, D.C.  from Ft. Benning where they had been training.  At the wheel was Lt. Col. Lemuel Penn, a veteran of WWII who had earned the Bronze Star for his service in the New Guinea and Philippines campaigns against the Japanese.  All three officers were black.

Nine days before the men started their drive home from Ft. Benning, President Lyndon Johnson had signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law.  This landmark legislation banned racial discrimination in hiring and ended segregation in public places and many businesses.  Local members of the Ku Klux Klan in Athens had heard rumors that Georgia might become a “testing ground” for the new law according a 2004 article from Online Athens.

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Tags: civil rights, Civil Rights Act of 1964, georgia, KKK, Ku Klux Klan, murder, race, racism, racist, violence