Re-Enactment of 1946 Lynchings Planned - Jesse Jackson photo-op (CAPTION TIME!)

ATLANTA — Civil rights activists in Georgia hope to stage a re-enactment today of the lynchings that took place on July 25, 1946. They are looking to gain support for the arrest and prosecution of anyone still alive who may have been involved.

As a 20-year-old civil rights activist in 1968, Tyrone Brooks drove 40 miles from Atlanta to Walton County to meet Dan Young, who ran the county's only black funeral home.

In the basement of the funeral home, Young opened an old file cabinet and pulled out a manila folder containing photographs of bodies — the victims, Young told Brooks, of the last open public mass lynching in the United States.

"That really got my attention," said Brooks, who is now a representative in the Georgia House.

On Monday, the 59th anniversary of the lynchings that took place on July 25, 1946, he and other civil rights activists hope to stage a re-enactment of the violent act in hopes of gaining support for the arrest and prosecution of anyone still alive who may have been involved or responsible.

Just one month ago, 1,000 members of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials unanimously passed a resolution urging prosecutors to bring charges for the first time in the unsolved lynchings.

The photos were of Roger and Dorothy Malcom and George and Mae Murray Dorsey, four young black sharecroppers who were gunned down on July 25, 1946, along the Apalachee River.

The re-enactment will start on what is believed to be Barney Hester's property, where Roger Malcom had been arrested not long before the lynching. A fight between the two men hospitalized Hester, who was white, and landed Malcom in jail.

A few days later, according to the FBI's 500-page report on the killings, the Malcoms and Dorseys were riding with a white farmer when 20 to 25 white men stopped the car on the Moore's Ford bridge. The mob forced the couples out of the car, dragged them down a wagon trail about 50 yards from the bridge and shot them with pistols and shotguns. The farmer was spared.

The FBI report named 55 suspects. Brooks said he knows of two living in Walton County, and a few others still alive outside Georgia.

"This is a stain on our history, and a burden on our soul," Brooks said. "But the stain can be erased, and the burden can be lifted. The eyes of the nation shall now focus on Monroe, Georgia, just as the eyes of the nation focused on Philadelphia, Mississippi, and Birmingham, Alabama," he said, referring to the recent prosecutions and convictions in civil-rights era slayings in those cities.

Walton County District Attorney Ken Wynne has said he understands the desire for justice, but that the case lacks sufficient witnesses and evidence.

The FBI was ordered to investigate the case in 1946 by President Truman but was thwarted by a lack of witnesses. Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Fred Stephens said recently that his office is pursuing every lead it gets.

"They are sparse," he said, "but we have no doubt that there are still people in that community who have specific information about this case."

The Rev. Jesse Jackson addresses attendees at a 59th Anniversary Commemoration and Re-enactment of the Lynchings at the Moore's Ford Bridge service at the 1st African Baptist Church in Monroe, Ga., Monday, July 25, 2005. Jackson spoke as part of the day-long activities in memory of the 1946 lynchings at the bridge. (AP Photo/Ric Feld)

Rev. Jesse Jackson , left, embraces Georgia State Rep. Tyrone Brooks, right, as the two appear at the 59th anniversary commemoration and re-enactment of the lynchings at the Moore's Ford Bridge service at the 1st African Baptist Church in Monroe, Ga., Monday, July 25, 2005. Jackson spoke as part of the day-long activities in memory of the 1946 lynchings at the bridge. The re-enactment comes exactly a month after 1,000 members of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials unanimously passed a resolution urging prosecutors to bring charges for the first time in the unsolved lynchings. (AP Photo/Ric Feld)

Loy Harrison, left, shown in this file photo taken July 26, 1946, shows Sheriff J.M. Bond, center, of Oconee County and Coroner W.T. Brown of Walton County, where four blacks were slain near Monroe, Ga., a day earlier. Bond is holding a rope which had allegedly been used to bind the hands of two of the victims. On July 25, 1946, George Dorsey, Mae Murray Dorsey, Roger Malcom and Dorothy Malcom were lynched by a mob on the old bridge that spanned the Apalachee River some 60 miles from Atlanta. No one has ever been charged in the murders. Monday July 25, 2005 marks the 59th anniversary of the lynchings that took place on July 25, 1946. (AP Photo/File)

Randy Ansley, left, portraying Roger Malcolm, Jerry Ansley, second left, portraying George Dorsey, Rosie Crowley, portraying Dorothy Malcolm, and Rachel Howard, right, portraying Mae Murray Dorsey, wait tied up in the woods as members of the Klan prepare to shoot them as they run through a reenactment of the 1946 lynching at the Moore's Ford Bridge outside of Monroe, Ga., Monday, July 25, 2005. Monday marks the 59th anniversary of the lynchings that took place on July 25, 1946. (AP Photo/Ric Feld)

Ray Ansley, portraying a Klansman, waits on the road as a group runs through a reenactment of the 1946 lynching at the Moore's Ford Bridge outside of Monroe, Ga., Monday, July 25, 2005. Monday marks the 59th anniversary of the lynchings that took place on July 25, 1946. (AP Photo/Ric Feld)

Ben Reed, right, and Keith Christian, left, portraying Klansmen, wait by the side of the road with a rope as they run through a reenactment of the 1946 lynching at the Moore's Ford Bridge outside of Monroe, Ga., Monday, July 25, 2005. Monday marks the 59th anniversary of the lynchings that took place on July 25, 1946. (AP Photo/Ric Feld)

Ben Reed, standing left, Keith Christian, right, Haywood Crawford, bending down center, and Doug Love, third from right, portraying Klansmen, put a rope around the neck of Randy Ansley, on ground left, portraying Roger Malcolm, and Jerry Ansley, on ground, second left, portraying George Dorsey, as they run through a reenactment of the 1946 lynching at the Moore's Ford Bridge outside of Monroe, Ga., Monday, July 25, 2005. Monday marks the 59th anniversary of the lynchings that took place on July 25, 1946. (AP Photo/Ric Feld)

Ben Reed, left, and Keith Christian, right, portraying Klansmen, put a rope around the neck of Randy Ansley, center, portraying Roger Malcolm, as they run through a reenactment of the 1946 lynching at the Moore's Ford Bridge outside of Monroe, Ga., Monday, July 25, 2005. Monday marks the 59th anniversary of the lynchings that took place on July 25, 1946. (AP Photo/Ric Feld)

Georgia State Rep. Tyrone Brooks walks past the overgrown yard of the home outside of Monroe, Ga., believed to be the farmhouse of Barney Hester, Sunday, July 24, 2005. As a 20-year-old civil rights activist, in 1968, Brooks met Dan Young, who ran the Walton county's only black funeral home, where he viewed pictures of dead bodies, who were the victims, Young told Brooks, of the last open public mass lynchings in the U.S. On Monday, the 59th anniversary of the lynchings, Brooks and other civil rights activists will re-enact that fateful day with a march starting at this property, in hopes of gaining support for the arrest and prosecution of anyone still alive who may have been involved or responsible. (AP Photo/Ric Feld)

String and wire hold the name plate on the mailbox in front of the home outside of Monroe, Ga., believed to be the farmhouse of Barney Hester, Sunday, July 24, 2005. As a 20-year-old civil rights activist, in 1968, State Rep. Tyrone Brooks met Dan Young, who ran Walton county's only black funeral home, where he viewed pictures of dead bodies, who were the victims, Young told Brooks, of the last open public mass lynchings in the U.S. On Monday, July 25, the 59th anniversary of the lynchings, Brooks and other civil rights activists will re-enact that fateful day with a march starting at this property, in hopes of gaining support for the arrest and prosecution of anyone still alive who may have been involved or responsible. (AP Photo/Ric Feld)

Georgia State Rep. Tyrone Brooks, right, talks with Walton County (Ga.) civil rights activist Bobby Howard, left, on the overgrown porch of the home outside of Monroe, Ga., they believe to be the farmhouse of Barney Hester Sunday, July 24, 2005. As a 20-year-old civil rights activist, in 1968, Brooks met Dan Young, who ran the Walton county's only black funeral home, where he viewed pictures of dead bodies, the victims, Young told Brooks, of the last open public mass lynchings in the U.S. On Monday, the 59th anniversary of the lynchings, Brooks and other civil rights activists will re-enact that fateful day with a march starting at this property, in hopes of gaining support for the arrest and prosecution of anyone still alive who may have been involved or responsible. (AP Photo/Ric Feld)

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