Murder Victim, Civil Rights Figure. A native of Washington, D.C., he joined the United States Army Reserve from Howard University and served in World War II in New Guinea and the Philippines, earning a Bronze Star. After the war, he served as an assistant Superintendent of education in the District of Columbia's public schools while remaining in the Army Reserves, rising to Lieutenant Colonel. He was murdered by four members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in July of 1964 near Colbert, Madison County, Georgia, as he was driving from Fort Benning, Georgia to Washington, D.C. The Klan members who shot Penn were later convicted in Federal Court of violating his civil rights after first being acquitted of murder by an all-white jury in a Georgia States Superior Court. It was the first such conviction under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, as the law passed just nine days before Penn's murder.
Murder Victim, Civil Rights Figure. A native of Washington, D.C., he joined the United States Army Reserve from Howard University and served in World War II in New Guinea and the Philippines, earning a Bronze Star. After the war, he served as an assistant Superintendent of education in the District of Columbia's public schools while remaining in the Army Reserves, rising to Lieutenant Colonel. He was murdered by four members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in July of 1964 near Colbert, Madison County, Georgia, as he was driving from Fort Benning, Georgia to Washington, D.C. The Klan members who shot Penn were later convicted in Federal Court of violating his civil rights after first being acquitted of murder by an all-white jury in a Georgia States Superior Court. It was the first such conviction under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, as the law passed just nine days before Penn's murder.
Bio by: Curtis Jackson
Inscription
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
LT COL
INFANTRY USAR
WORLD WAR II
BSM (Bronze Star Medal)
Family Members
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