Lt. Col. Lemuel Penn and the Civil Rights Act

Lt. Col. Lemuel Penn and the Civil Rights Act is a Georgia historical marker in Madison County, dedicated 2006.

At intersection of Georgia Route 172 and Roy Wood Road. The marker is at the Madison/Elbert County Line, at the Broad River.

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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 members 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.

TodayHistorical map

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David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1816 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1831 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1845 · Georgia (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1869 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1891 · Carnesville, Georgia (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)

Georgia, 1816, covering the location of Lt. Col. Lemuel Penn and the Civil Rights Act, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Georgia, 1816, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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This historical marker is part of the Georgia Historical Marker Program and was erected by the Georgia Historical Society. Marker texts and locations come from the Society's own marker database.

Lt. Col. Lemuel Penn and the Civil Rights Act

Historical maps covering this location

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