John Bennett
Age 28
A Black man who went searching for his stolen car
Augusta, Georgia
May 11, 1970
In May 1970, Augusta, Georgia was in upheaval. The city had been uneasy since the death of Charles Oatman, a mentally disabled Black teenager who was severely beaten at an adult county jail and died in custody. Several hundred people protested at the jail on May 10, 1970, and by Monday, May 11, full-blown demonstrations erupted, during which some protesters burned and looted many white- and Chinese American-owned businesses. According to an NPR report, 1,000 Black residents were protesting not only the death of Oatman but also the city’s systemic oppression. One hundred blocks of the city were vandalized, and police responded with force.
Amid the rioting, 28-year-old John Bennett and his cousin went to a party at a friend’s apartment. Around 1 a.m., they noticed Bennett’s car was missing and left to search for the stolen vehicle. They eventually found Bennet’s car outside a corner store that had been looted. The car’s trunk was open and groceries left inside, according to newspaper reports. The New York Times and The Washington Post reported that Bennett’s cousin said nearby policemen did not believe Bennett when he told them he owned the car. He said the officers slapped and arrested Bennett, who then tried to run. Another witness said multiple policemen fired at Bennett as he fled, and that he fell to the ground, mortally wounded.
Bennett was one of six Black men to die during what came to be known as the Augusta Riot. Charlie Mack Murphy, Sammie McCullough, John Stokes, Mack Wilson and William Wright Jr. were also shot and killed. None of the men were armed. Sixty others were shot by police but survived, according to the 1970 Augusta Riot Observance Committee.
Initial Investigation
Autopsy reports showed that all six men had been shot in the back, but only Sammie McCullough’s death was marked as a homicide.
A month after the protests, Georgia’s governor announced that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was conducting an unprecedented, “no-holds-barred” investigation, according to local media. The FBI also opened an inquiry into the deaths, while the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice looked into whether any federal laws had been violated, The New York Times reported in 1970.
The state declined to file charges, but a federal grand jury in September 1970 indicted two Augusta police officers: William S. Dennis and Louis C. Dinkins. Dennis was tried three months later on civil rights charges for fatally shooting Stokes but was acquitted by the all-white jury. Dinkins was acquitted of a charge that he had violated the civil rights of a Black teenager whom he had shot during the protests but who had survived.
Till Act Status
Bennett’s name first appeared on a list of cases being reviewed by the Department of Justice in 2019. According to a report to Congress by the U.S. attorney general at that time, the review was based on a referral under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, and the case remained open.
Case Status open
Themes
- Deaths Involving Law Enforcement
- Men
- Open Cases
About the Project
This multiplatform investigation draws upon more than two years of reporting, thousands of documents and dozens of first-hand interviews. FRONTLINE spoke to family and friends of the victims, and witnesses, some of whom had never been interviewed; current and former Justice Department officials and FBI agents, state and local law enforcement; lawmakers, civil-rights leaders and investigative journalists, to explore the Department of Justice’s reopening of civil rights-era cold cases under the 2008 Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act.
In addition to an examination of the federal effort, the project features the first comprehensive, interactive list of all those whose cases were reopened by the Department of Justice. Today, the list stands at 151 names. Among the victims: voting rights advocates, veterans, Louisville’s first female prosecutor, business owners, mothers, fathers, and children.
The project consists of a web-based interactive experience, serialized podcast, a touring augmented-reality exhibit, documentary and companion education curriculum for high schools and universities.
A project like Un(re)solved would not be possible without the historic and contemporary contributions of universities, civil rights groups, and the press, particularly the Black press, who have ensured the ongoing public record of racist violence in the United States. To pay homage to these groups, the web interactive begins with a quote from journalist, activist and researcher Ida B. Wells, one of the first to document with precision the horrors of racial terror in America. “The way to right wrongs,” she wrote, “is to turn the light of truth upon them.”
At the outset of the project, FRONTLINE forged a relationship with Northeastern University’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ), bringing them on as an academic partner. Launched in 2007 by Distinguished Law Professor Margaret Burnham, CRRJ is a mission-driven program of interdisciplinary teaching, research and policy analysis on race, history, and criminal justice. Their work has expanded beyond the names on the Justice Department’s list, archiving documents in over 1,000 cases of racially motivated homicides.
With support from the CRRJ, FRONTLINE reporters gathered what could be known about the individuals on the list, conducting interviews with family, friends and witnesses, delving into newspaper archives and gathering documentation including headstone applications, draft cards and archival photographs.
At the heart of the project has been a drive to center the voices of the families of those on the list. FRONTLINE partnered with StoryCorps to record nearly two dozen oral histories with victims’ next of kin, which are featured both in the web-based interactive and traveling AR exhibit. These oral histories will also be archived in the National Library of Congress.
To lead the creative vision for the web experience and installation, FRONTLINE partnered with Ado Ato Pictures, a premier mixed reality studio founded by artist, filmmaker, and technologist Tamara Shogaolu.
Shogaolu rooted the visuals in the powerful symbolism of trees. In the United States, trees evoke the ideal of liberty, but also speak to an oppressive history of racially motivated violence. In Persian myth, trees are humanity’s ancestors, while in Toraja, Indonesia, they serve as sacred burial sites.
“I was really inspired by looking at the role of the tree as a symbol in American history” Shogaolu said. “It’s been looked at as a symbol of freedom, we look at it as a connector between generations, and also there’s the association of trees with racial terror.” When designing the creative vision for Un(re)solved Shogaolu wondered whether she might be able to reclaim the symbol of the tree. “As a person of color, we’re often terrified of being in isolated places in the woods. And I thought it was kind of crazy that there are natural environments that instinctually give great fear because of this connection with racial terror and I wanted to reclaim that — to turn these into beautiful spaces.”
Un(re)solved weaves imagery of trees, which also recall family ties, into patterns and textures from the American tradition of quilting. Among enslaved African Americans forbidden to read or write, quilts provided an important space to document family stories. Today, quilting remains a creative outlet rich with story and tradition for many American communities.
We invite you to enter this forest of quilted memories — a testimony to the lives of these individuals, and the multi-generational impact of their untimely, unjust loss.
(Credits to come)