Groveland Four Case Study

"The NAACP’s Thurgood Marshall knew that, in the white supremacist Southern courts of the mid-20th Century, any black man accused of sexually violating a white woman was certain to be found guilty."(Cerf) As a result this is what happened in the case of the Groveland four. This statement can be supported, according to the multiple killings of black men in the South of North America. Many individuals (especially white people) claimed that any black man who violated a white woman, that black man would have severe consequences and would be given a punishment, such as going to prison, or even possibility of death. The Groveland four: a conflict trying to find out the real truth between four black suspects and the white society. By looking at the …show more content…
Sheriff McCall picked the two accusers up for they were located at the Raiford State Prison. While McCall was driving with the two suspects in the middle of the night, according to McCalls point of view claimed that one of his tires seemed to have low air, and for this reason he had to stop the vehicle. While he was checking the tire, he gave permission to Shepard to go to the bathroom. He then proclaimed that Shepard and Irvin tried to overpower him, even though the two suspects were handcuffed together. And according to McCall he pulled out his gun for self defense, and shot both prisoners. Shepard was immediately killed, but despite being shot twice Irvin managed to survive. On contrast, Irvin told a different story according to his point of view. He said that McCall while driving in the night pulled over to the side of the rode and told the two prisoners to get out of the vehicle. After they got out of the vehicle McCall pulled out his gun and shot both of them. Shepard got killed, but Irvin who was still alive pretended to be dead for the sake of his life. Irvin then heard McCall say in the radio "I got rid of them; killed the sons of bitches."(McCall) Later a deputy arrived and noticed that Irvin was still alive, therefore he …show more content…
Indeed it did took immense time to find the correct information to write this book. “The case was never really forgotten in Lake County, and it bubbles up now and then in the media and in books.”(Krajicek) This book is called "Devil in the Grove". The book was basically about how supposedly four black men raped a seventeen year old woman and then were sent to trial and were known as guilty by the jury. “"Devil in the Grove" was set against the backdrop of the civil- rights movement that was just starting to pick up momentum across the country in 1949.”(Ritchie) Gilbert King wrote this book by using FBI information he tried to gain for many years. Even though Gilbert King wrote Devil in the Grove as a Nonfiction book it still gained many readers to read this phenomenal book. King adjusted the story to make the book more compelling to larger audiences, because not many people read nonfiction books because they usually contain just straight out facts that many individuals may find boring. He wanted people to know about the case in Groveland Four. But also he wanted people to know more about Thurgood Marshall, who took the case. King wanted people know why he was important and what he did that made the Groveland case so special. Indeed many individuals across the nation especially Florida read this book. This book got so popular that it won a