On July 11,1964, Lt. Col. Lemuel Penn, with two other Army reserve officers, was driving from Fort Benning, Ga., back to his home in Washington, D.C., where he served as the assistant superintendent of the D.C. public schools. Penn, a graduate of Howard University, was awarded a bronze star for his World War II service in the Philippines. Their Chevrolet was spotted by three members of the KKK who noted their D.C. license plate. As the soldiers approached the Broad River bridge near Colbert, Ga., north of Athens, they were gunned down in cold blood. Penn left behind three young children. An all-white jury found the three Klansmen not guilty. 

These are the riveting facts behind a story that rocked the nation at the height of the civil rights challenges. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had passed only nine days before the murder. The trial of the three men was front-page news. And it became the backdrop for John Pruitt’s book, “Tell It True: A Novel.” 

Pruitt will be the Georgia Writers Museum “Meet the Author” presenter on Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 7 p.m. at the museum. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and admission is free. To register, call the Georgia Writers Museum or go to www.georgiawritersmuseum.org to register and pre-order your copy of John’s book for his signature at the event.

“Tell It True: A Novel” encompasses a wide range of characters, including the journalists who cover it, the lawmen who must solve it, the civil rights leaders who rally around it, the politicians who exploit it, and the Atlanta magnate who fears its impact on the New South image he desperately wants to protect. Focusing on the challenges faced by journalists as they covered a societal revolution and brought the dramatic and sometimes violent scenes to TV screens around the world, “Tell It True” takes readers to a time when the future of the South hung in the balance.

Pruitt covered the news of Atlanta and Georgia as WSB television anchor and reporter for almost half a century. His major stories include the civil rights movement, the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jimmy Carter’s gubernatorial and presidential campaigns, the inaugurations of presidents Carter and Clinton, eleven Democratic and Republican conventions, the 1983 bombing of a Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, and the aftermath of the September 11^th attack on the World Trade Center.

Pruitt is a 10-time Emmy-Award-winning news anchor/reporter and has won five Sigma Delta Chi Quill Awards, the UPI award, the Georgia Winner Award for Public Service, Pioneer Broadcaster Award from the UGA Journalism School, the Silver Circle Award from the National Academy of Radio Arts and Sciences, and the Distinguished Achievement in Broadcasting Award from DiGamma Kappa at the UGA Journalism School. A graduate of Davidson College, he received an honorary doctorate degree in public service from Presbyterian College. John has been inducted into the Atlanta Press Club Hall of Fame and the Georgia Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.