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Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America

Gilbert King

4.37 · Rating details · 11,081 ratings · 1,460 reviews

Devil in the Grove, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction, is a gripping true story of racism, murder, rape, and the law. It brings to light one of the most dramatic court cases in American history, and offers a rare and revealing portrait of Thurgood Marshall that the world has never seen before.

As Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns did for the stor ...more

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Hardcover, 434 pages

Published March 6th 2012 by Harper

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Jul 24, 2013 Scott rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I'm often struck, when reading a book about race in 20th-century America--Parting the Waters, say, or the amazing Warmth of Other Suns--by how many of the most horrifying, virulently racist events during the Jim Crow/Civil Rights eras took place in Florida. Growing up here in New York in the 1960s and '70s, for some reason (aka, marketing) I guess I still unconsciously associate Florida with Disneyworld, orange juice, and beaches--later: cocaine, gross nightclubs, Seinfeld's parents, stolen elec I'm often struck, when reading a book about race in 20th-century America--Parting the Waters, say, or the amazing Warmth of Other Suns--by how many of the most horrifying, virulently racist events during the Jim Crow/Civil Rights eras took place in Florida. Growing up here in New York in the 1960s and '70s, for some reason (aka, marketing) I guess I still unconsciously associate Florida with Disneyworld, orange juice, and beaches--later: cocaine, gross nightclubs, Seinfeld's parents, stolen elections--more than the KKK. And this disconnect, or instinctive blind spot, is apparently not unique to me, or at all new. As Gilbert King writes in his excellent Devil In the Grove, which features some of the most disturbing scenes of white-on-black violence I've ever read, all of which take place in the Sunshine State:

"The state of Florida, despite recording a higher number of lynchings and registering more members of the Ku Klux Klan than any other state in the South, inexplicably remained in the shadows of Dixieland in the 1940s. Florida was epithetically 'south of the South,' and racial incidents that would have likely attracted national attention had they occurred in Mississippi or Alabama somehow managed to escape scrutiny because they'd taken place in the forgotten land of sun and surf."

I actually wrote the above in reference to the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin verdict, delivered while I was reading Devil In the Grove. I also saw the superb movie Fruitvale Station right around then as well, which, true, takes place in Oakland, but still... it felt like a triple-whammy of racist horribleness that, though certainly not as open and accepted as it was in the 1940s, is still very much alive and active in the South, and the rest of America, today.

So, Devil In the Grove. King's book is a detailed, dramatic account of a case in Lake County, Florida, 1949, in which four almost-random black kids (teenagers and early 20s) were charged with raping a young white woman. That there was zero evidence of anything mattered not at all. That these kids suffered horrendous beatings and just all manner of appalling physical abuse by Sheriff McCall and his deputies was seen as a big plus by area whites; McCall would win reelection seven times, and was in power as late as 1972. It's all so disgusting and infuriating, but vital for everyone to keep top-of-mind when talking about race in America. Anyway, the case attracts the NAACP, which at the time meant the brilliant (and hard-partying) Thurgood Marshall, and, in addition to big chunks of the book being a first-rate legal thriller, Devil In the Grove also functions as an "early years" bio of the future Supreme. AND it all went down (there were numerous appeals, stretching out over years) around the time of Brown vs Board of Ed, Marshall's greatest triumph, which also makes an appearance here. So, it's a lot, and, frankly, it's more than Gilbert King can handle at times, as he jumps around with chronology and introduces too many characters without clearly distinguishing among them. Basically: I got lost quite a few times in the book's first half. But once King settles in a groove, the pages fly, the blood boils, the lessons relearned again and again. ...more

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Jan 09, 2013 Granny rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

I had the misfortune of living in Lake Co., FL for nearly 20 years where this incident took place; I was there a couple of decades after the event, but it was still widely spoken of. Sheriff Willis McCall had god-like status in the area. Men would stand and take off their hats when he passed. The atmosphere was toxic. Well-researched book. Hard for me to read, having witnessed so much of the racism still there in the 1960's-1980's. ...more

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Nov 23, 2019 Brina rated it really liked it

Shelves: history, race-relations, pulitzer-winner, florida

Florida. The Sunshine State. Miami Beach. Disney World. Home to oranges, manatees, hibiscuses, and countless retirees who make the state their new year round or winter residence. With a southern tri-county region that has become home to a myriad of Latinos, and Northeastern corridor transplants, when I have visited family and friends over the years I do not feel I am in the south, as I would in Tennessee or Georgia. Yet, Florida, especially the northern and central sections is just as southern a Florida. The Sunshine State. Miami Beach. Disney World. Home to oranges, manatees, hibiscuses, and countless retirees who make the state their new year round or winter residence. With a southern tri-county region that has become home to a myriad of Latinos, and Northeastern corridor transplants, when I have visited family and friends over the years I do not feel I am in the south, as I would in Tennessee or Georgia. Yet, Florida, especially the northern and central sections is just as southern as the aforementioned states. The Trayvon Martin case in recent years rings a bell of the racism that is still present in the winter home to northerners. And sadly, this is nothing new. African Americans from Florida joined the Great Migration north, and Zora Neale Hurston wrote of all black hamlets such as Eatonville, built so that blacks could live self-sufficiently away from white authority. The blacks who were not fortunate to leave or move to all black communities, were at the liberty of being threatened by southern bastions of white supremacy on a daily basis. In his Pulitzer winning exposure of this way of life, Gilbert King takes readers back to a court case that was all too indicative of the southern code in the days before integration.

When the newly integrated Brooklyn Dodgers trained in Daytona Beach in 1946, Jackie Robinson could not eat with his teammates or sleep in the same hotels. Local officials threatened to cancel Dodger games if Robinson suited up because his presence threatened a way of life, that of southern white supremacy and segregation. While Robinson was making a name for himself on the baseball diamond, African Americans had another hero, one who hoped to break down the walls of segregation in America. As the young star lawyer for the NAACP, Thurgood Marshall argued cases all over the south where defendants were indicted on the basis of being black. Cases of theft, integration of public places, and, in a few cases, rape, that were tried before all white juries, left African American defendants guilty and facing life in prison and in some cases electrocution. Marshall feared for his own life while traveling through the south, but with each case and subsequent appeal to the US Supreme Court, his mentor Charles Hamilton Houston noted that the walls of segregation were that much closer to crumbling down. Marshall continued to travel through Oklahoma, Tennessee, and other southern states during the 1940s, often with an escort, in hopes of influencing all white juries of the innocence of his defendants.

Before the landmark 1954 Brown v Board case, the apex of Marshall’s career had been the Groveland boys case of 1949. Four African American men in a case of mistaken identity were accused of raping a white woman outside of Groveland, Florida located in central Lake County. Unlike the urban Miami in the south, Lake County was a rural hamlet of farmers and small towns that was governed by Ku Klux Klan members and their cronies. Sheriff Willis V McCall governed with an iron fist and was elected to office seven straight times, overseeing the region until 1972. According to Isabel Wilkerson’s Warmth of Other Suns, if a black man had been targeted by McCall and his men, it was best to get his family on a train heading north with no return date. One subject in Wilkerson’s book refused to return to Florida provided that McCall was still alive and calling the shots. With many Florida lawmakers in his pocket and a member of a local Klavern, if McCall arrested an African American for even the most minor offense, a guilty verdict was all but certain. Marshall along with his legal defense team attempted to change the way of thinking in Lake County, even for those in McCall’s pocket, with three lives at stake facing the chair.

It took Thurgood Marshall and his deputy Franklin Williams multiple tries to find a white lawyer willing to head the defense of Walter Irvin and Samuel Shepherd who were accused of raping Norma Tyson Padgett. Even the most fair minded of lawyers believed in the chastity of the southern flower of white womanhood and feared for their careers should they take this case. Marshall settled on one Alex Akerman who argued for the defense along with Williams and later Marshall and his new deputy Jack Greenberg. The courtroom was much like other cases Marshall had visited over the years: a rural southern community, an all white jury, a judge who believed whites to be superior to blacks, and a southern way of life that believed blacks to be guilty until proven innocent. And yet Marshall won an appeal from the US Supreme Court for these reasons: an all white jury and a venue where his defendants would not receive a fair trial. With Williams going on fundraising tours for the NAACP legal defense fund, Marshall would head the appeals trial himself, even if it meant another trip to the south.

Over the course of the Groveland case, four people died at the hands of McCall and the Klan including two of the defendants. McCall, the devil in the grove, with lawmakers on his side, twisted the truth in the press and in court, making up evidence and new testimonies as he went along. With an all white jury consisting of McCall’s peers, it was all but certain that the prosecution would win whatever appeals Marshall received from the Supreme Court. Marshall in his career only lost three Supreme Court appeals, two of them being death sentences. He admitted that he would probably lose but in his summations, if he could change peoples’ ways of thinking, he would be bringing the south that much closer to integration. With exposure of segregation and supremacy in the northern press, Marshall had allowed Americans to see the conditions blacks faced in southern pockets of white supremacy. After successfully trying Brown v Board in 1954, Marshall still had a long battle of subsequent cases ahead of him, leading to the moniker Mr Civil Rights in African American communities. By 1966, following the passage of the Civil rights act, Marshall was named to the Supreme Court, a position he held until his death.

Eventually, I would like to retire to Florida. I have visited the state every year since I was one year old and even lived there for two years. South Florida, the part of the state I am most familiar with, is a southern paradise. Gilbert King makes me rethink my opinions of the sunshine state as a whole, even if the events of the Groveland boys case took place seventy years ago in a part of the state I only pass through in my route south. I can now successfully check another Pulitzer winner off of my reading list as I continue to honor Jackie Robinson’s 100th birthday year by reading about civil rights.

4+ stars ...more

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Apr 14, 2018 Steve rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, pulitzer-prize

Newsflash (January 2019), on the cover of today's Washington Post, a great excuse to read this book if you haven't done so yet: https://www.washingtonpost.com/histor...

Quite simply, one of those books everyone (or "more people") should read, and I'm sorry it took me so long to find it. An important story well researched and told. And a well deserved award/accolade winner, an extraordinary piece of history, a powerful summary of a deeply troubling, disturbing, unnerving, ugly, place and time, and Newsflash (January 2019), on the cover of today's Washington Post, a great excuse to read this book if you haven't done so yet: https://www.washingtonpost.com/histor...

Quite simply, one of those books everyone (or "more people") should read, and I'm sorry it took me so long to find it. An important story well researched and told. And a well deserved award/accolade winner, an extraordinary piece of history, a powerful summary of a deeply troubling, disturbing, unnerving, ugly, place and time, and the kind of book that opens minds and reminds us that our preconceived notions of history, major events, and others (our neighbors, our fellow citizens) are better understood in context.

The book is a lot of things (all done well). First and foremost, as a chronicle of race relations and and the civil rights movement, it paints a vivid picture and serves as a splendid companion to Isabel Wilkerson's Warmth of Other Suns (which I also recommend without hesitation). As a biography of Thurgood Marshall, it introduces readers to the life of an extraordinary, larger-than-life giant in the country's evolution. And, frankly, as a law book, it does a surprisingly good job of reminding us that the evolution of law enforcement, justice, and due process was neither smooth nor always honorable, just as it puts in context current events (including the Black Lives Matter movement, and the seeming resurgence in(?), emboldening of, or, at least, increased public awareness of, white supremacy in America).

Alas, this is not a happy book or an easy read. The facts are brutal, the behavior of far too many is as reprehensible as it is inexplicable, and the frequency with which one's sense of justice and goodwill are offended are legion, relentless, heart-wrenching, and ... sadly ... a significant aspect of our nation's history, culture, and, no doubt, a factor in many of the social divisions and policy choices we struggle with and read about on a daily basis.

Kudos to Gilbert King. I wish I'd read it earlier. I recommend it without hesitation. ...more

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Nov 23, 2020 Max rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: american-history

King delivers a superbly written narrative of four black men accused of raping a white woman in the 1940s rural south. Lake County Florida, an area dominated by citrus groves that relied on poor blacks to do the picking, was dominated by a stereotypical racist sheriff and the KKK. Any thought that the men would receive a fair trial was ludicrous. Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP decided to take up their cause. There would be many twists and turns as trials and appeals ensued. The demonical sherif King delivers a superbly written narrative of four black men accused of raping a white woman in the 1940s rural south. Lake County Florida, an area dominated by citrus groves that relied on poor blacks to do the picking, was dominated by a stereotypical racist sheriff and the KKK. Any thought that the men would receive a fair trial was ludicrous. Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP decided to take up their cause. There would be many twists and turns as trials and appeals ensued. The demonical sheriff would not be outdone doing whatever it took to impose his will. Neither would the Klan rest. Violence and danger intrude throughout. Every time Marshal and his cohorts venture into the sheriffs territory their lives are at risk. It all makes for a compelling read.

King depicts Marshall as a remarkable resourceful man who was clearly respected by judges, colleagues, and even opposing attorneys. One incident stood out to me. It illustrates the esteem in which Marshall was held. One of the Groveland Boys faced the electric chair Monday morning after the Florida court refused to intervene. Marshall needed an immediate stay from the Supreme Court to stop it. It was late Saturday evening. Marshall sought out Chief Justice Fred Vinson, but he was nowhere to be found. Marshall got someone to reveal that Vinson was in a hotel room in Washington. Marshall went there and knocked on the door. Inside he found Vinson and Harry Truman playing cards. “’How did you find me?’ Vinson asked? ‘I can’t tell you’, Marshall said, sliding the brief toward the justice. Vinson’s eyes skimmed the pages…’Can you vouch for this being true?’ ‘Yes, sir I wrote it’, Marshall replied. President Truman watched in silence…’I’ll tell you one thing, if you’ve got guts enough to break in on this, I’ve got guts enough to sign it.’”

There are other storylines to follow. Besides Marshall’s work on the Groveland case, we get to read about his work on similar cases where blacks faced summary judgement. In one in Columbia, Tennessee, driving away after a successful trial, he was stopped by the local police. They arrested him claiming falsely that he was drunk. Then they drove Marshall down a dirt road to a river where angry white faces were staring at him. Fortunately someone had followed or there likely wouldn’t have been a Marshall legacy other than that of another black victim. We also read about Marshall’s other work for the NAAACP and the Legal Defense Fund, particularly the work on segregation cases leading to Brown v. Board of Education in which the Supreme Court ordered school desegregation. We also get an interesting look at the personalities at the NAACP.

Another story is the dynamic of Lake County, Florida in the 1940s, a land comprised of poor white farmers, small town white crackers, and dirt poor black people living in shantytowns. On top are a few land owners who profit from the citrus groves paying abysmally low wages to the exploited black grove workers. The landowners also profit from the rents they charge for shabby housing. To do their bidding and keep everything in order is the sheriff. While the sheriff is brutal and seemingly all powerful, he must balance competing interests. He makes money from his ties with the illegal gambling bosses and also is a member of the Klan which he supports but can only let go so far. If the KKK burns down too many black homes, the black community could leave and the rich landowners will be furious with him when there is no one left to work the groves. These forces continually play out in the book affecting everything that happens in Lake County.

Highly recommended! Insightful history that will keep you turning pages.
...more

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Jul 21, 2014 Florence rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

In the late 1940s in Lake County Florida, a seventeen year old girl claimed she was raped by four black men. She lied. Her accusations resulted in the torture, death, and imprisonment of men of color who were innocent of any crime. The county sheriff, his deputy, and many of the other citizens belonged to the Ku Klux Klan, an infamous organization of domestic terrorism. They held life and death power over unfortunate prisoners in the county jail. They held influence over the courts. Judges convi ...more

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Aug 19, 2018 Chrissie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: usa, 2018-read, southern, history, bio, audible-uk, race

I knew practically nothing about Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993) when I began this book. He may be considered a forerunner of the American Civil Rights Movement. The book is not a biography. It does not cover his entire life. It speaks of his marriage and family, but not in great detail. It is a book about his career, his goals and beliefs, and in particular his involvement in the Groveland Boys Case. In Florida 1949, a seventeen-year-old white girl claimed four Blacks raped her. The case went to I knew practically nothing about Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993) when I began this book. He may be considered a forerunner of the American Civil Rights Movement. The book is not a biography. It does not cover his entire life. It speaks of his marriage and family, but not in great detail. It is a book about his career, his goals and beliefs, and in particular his involvement in the Groveland Boys Case. In Florida 1949, a seventeen-year-old white girl claimed four Blacks raped her. The case went to court three times. We learn of the racial discrimination pervading the Bay Lake, Florida, community. Voices from all sides are heard. One says this, another says that and testimonies change. What really did happen and would justice ever be obtained? By the end, a crystal-clear picture is drawn. The court cases continuing through 1954 are covered in detail. Other related cases are covered too, as well as the influence affected by Hoover, the FBI and the Communist scare. The sum of the intertwined elements enable one to grasp the full scope of events. Thurgood Marshall’s role was paramount, but he was still only one of the many involved. To draw a clear picture, the book does and must detail many individuals—Marshall’s mentors, those at the NAACP and its Legal Defense Fund, attorneys for the prosecution, lawyers for the defense, sheriffs, governors, reporters and many other officials, not to mention members of the KKK too.

There are many individuals to keep track of, but each one introduced is there for a reason and comes to play a significant role. In my view, the book does not go off on sidetracks. It keeps to the point, but a lot of territory must be covered to present a complete picture that can be properly understood.

There is no list of the people involved. I see no need for this. Each is properly introduced, and adequate background information is provided. As the years pass, one returns to central figures many times. I had little trouble keeping track of who is who. Moreover, I got a very good feel for Thurgood Marshall’s personality. This was an important aspect of the book for me.

All of us have read about segregation, racial discrimination in the South and the Civil Rights Movement. This book makes such discrimination feel personal and real. You will be made furious and repulsed at the injustices. The absurdity of events hits you in the face. You will be emotionally moved. Yet the book educates, and it sticks to the facts. It draws a full picture based on solid facts and meticulous research.

The book is for the layman. Legal procedures are clarified. Nevertheless, the more acquainted you are with legal and judicial procedures and rulings, the easier the book will be to follow.

At times, I was not completely sure of the sources of the views presented, but I saw no reason to doubt what I was told.

Peter Francis James does a fantastic job with the narration. In dialogs he captures impeccably both how those of the defense and the prosecution thought. Each held their own views and were incapable of understanding how those of the opposing side thought! A few did actually modify their views though. Anyway, the narrator’s ability to intone conflicting viewpoints is extremely well done. Secondly, the factual information is voiced clearly and at a steady, measured pace. Information is not dumped on you rapidly, making it difficult to absorb. James captures both how the educated and the uneducated, how Blacks and Whites and people from the North and the South speak. He even captures individuals’ personality differences. I do not think I could have coped with this as an audiobook without such an excellent narration.

The book is a difficult read, but it is a book you will be glad you have read.

Five stars? Four stars? It was between these two ratings I debated. I have absolutely no complaints with the book. None! The book is dense, and I do not have a degree in law. To some extent this lessens my ability to absorb and appreciate its content, despite its clarity. Four stars represents best how I feel about the book—I like it a lot, and I highly recommend it to others. ...more

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Mar 18, 2019 Kathleen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction 2013. Thurgood Marshall deserves a monument in Washington D.C. for what he did to set legal precedents dismantling segregation and Jim Crow laws. He won 29 of 32 cases before the Supreme Court, later becoming a Supreme Court Justice himself. He believed in the nation and in the law.

The ‘devil’ was one Willis V. McCall, the violent sheriff of Lake County in Florida. Not only did he let the Ku Klux Klan do as they liked, he brutally beat suspects and even murdered som ...more

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Dec 20, 2019 Judith E rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Thurgood Marshall was larger than life. With a brilliant mind and enviable leadership skills, Mr. Thurgood took on the Jim Crow judicial system of the American South. Through his immense constitutional knowledge and commitment to it, he argued cases before the Supreme Court (eventually becoming the first black Supreme Court Justice), while leading the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund. His principled choice of cases was to “look at the person beyond the color” and to look at the merits of the case.

Whi ...more

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Mar 16, 2019 Kiekiat rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: true-crime, american-history

I gave 'Devil in the Grove' 4 stars, but if I had a bit more rating leeway, I would have given some parts 3 stars, some 3.5 and some 4.5. The book is sort of like a record album where you love 5 songs, like 3 and are "meh" about 2 of them.

Devil in the Grove is a nonfiction book written in novel form, and it covers a lot of ground. It's main theme involves the efforts of Thurgood Marshall and other NAACP attorneys (along with some private lawyers) to defend three young black men accused of rape b ...more

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Jun 09, 2013 Geoffrey Benn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: history, non-fiction, pulitzer-prize

“Devil in the Grove,” by Gilbert King, is the 2013 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction. It is also one of the most gripping and horrifying books I’ve read in a long time. The book tells the story of the Groveland Boys – four African-American men falsely accused of raping a young Florida woman. The story is that of how the NAACP, led by Thurgood Marshall, attempts to save the lives of the accused men. Their opponents are the entrenched white establishment of Lake county, led by S ...more

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Jan 06, 2020 Joy D rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, north-america, social-commentary, law, crime, american-south, history, racial-issues, biography, african-american

Groveland is a small town in Lake County, Florida, about 30 miles west of Orlando. In 1949, a seventeen-year-old white woman accused four black men of rape. In this narrative non-fiction, Gilbert King tells the story of the Groveland Four. He explains how the NAACP’s Legal Defense team, led by Thurgood Marshall, became involved in upholding the civil rights of these men at a time of rampant racism in the Jim Crow South.

The author provides a well-written, comprehensive account of the case, impar ...more

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Sep 04, 2020 Ed rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Many moons ago, I had the opportunity to sit in the visitors' gallery at the U.S. Supreme Court building while they were in session. I was taking a class at my university, and our professor arranged it. Anyway, I remember watching Justice Thurgood Marshall on the bench. I've always wanted to learn more about the great justice. This historical account does a good job of satisfying my curiosity. It describes the case of four black youths falsely accused of raping a white girl in 1950s Florida. Nee ...more

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Mar 26, 2019 Lorna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: u-s-supreme-court, pulitzer-prize-winners, civil-rights-movement, law, american-south, pinnacle-book-club, history, new-york, florida

Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys and the Dawn of a New America by Gilbert King was winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2013. The book is a riveting examination of race relations in Florida at the height of the struggle for civil rights where the power of the embittered Ku Klux Klan and the lynching of blacks was not uncommon. It was at this time that Thurgood Marshall in working or NAACP Legal Defense Fund, was close to bringing the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys and the Dawn of a New America by Gilbert King was winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2013. The book is a riveting examination of race relations in Florida at the height of the struggle for civil rights where the power of the embittered Ku Klux Klan and the lynching of blacks was not uncommon. It was at this time that Thurgood Marshall in working or NAACP Legal Defense Fund, was close to bringing the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education before the United States Supreme Court. However, because of the sheer injustice of the Groveland case, Thurgood Marshall became involved despite threats to his life. Gilbert King points out that even though Thurgood Marshall brought the Groveland case before the U.S. Supreme Court, that it is barely mentioned in civil rights history, law texts or the many biographies of Marshall. However, he notes that there is a not a Supreme Court justice that served with Marshall or lawyer who clerked for him, that did not hear his lively renditions of the Groveland story. Gilbert King had access to materials never before published, including the FBI's undredacted case files pertaining to the Groveland case, as well as the files of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. This was a powerful historical narrative that will stay with me for some time.

"With his far-reaching triumphs in landmark cases he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall would indeed redefine justice in a multiracial nation and become, as one civil rights pioneer described him, The Founding Father of a New America."

"By the fall of 1951, Marshall had already filed and had begun trying in lower courts what would become his most famous case, Brown v. Board of Education, when he was again riding the rails toward Groveland."

"Southern juries might be stacked against blacks, and the judges might be biased, but Thurgood Marshall was demonstrating in case after case that their word was not the last, that in the U.S. Supreme Court the injustice in their decisions and verdicts could be reversed."

"For Marshall, the fight was never over with a jury's verdict. For him the Supreme Court was as level a playing field as you'd find in the land: that was the courtroom he wanted to fight in."

"'They can keep me from the courts of Florida,' Marshall shouted. 'But there is no man alive or to be born who can prevent me from arguing the Groveland case before the U.S. Supreme Court.'"

"Unlike any other state in the Deep South, Florida was undergoing a large-scale transformative demographic shift in the mid-fifties."

"'There is very little truth to the old refrain that one cannot legislate equality,' Marshall posited in a 1966 White House conference on civil rights. 'Laws not only provide concrete benefits, they can even change the hearts of men--some men, anyhow--for good or evil.'"
...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Londa rated it it was amazing

Enlightening! Easily one of the best books I have read this year. It is one thing to learn about the struggle against prejudice and inequality in a textbook, and it is quite another to FEEL as though you are LIVING it. Gilbert King is able to transport his readers back to a time which should not be forgotten. This book is hard to read, but even harder to put down.

King brings Thurgood Marshall to life in a way that I had never seen done before. While I knew that he had done monumental things on ...more

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Jul 03, 2013 Anta Mireille rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I'm probably in the minority, but this is a really poorly written book on a fascinating combination of topics (The Groveland Case, Civil Rights, and Thurgood Marshall). The main problem is that the author can't seem to decide which topic to focus on, even within a chapter. There are so many loose threads of information started but never completed that I feel as though I've just unraveled one of the most intricately-woven tapestries of American history just by picking up the book.

Secondly, [mild ...more

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Jan 17, 2020 Irene rated it really liked it

This deserved its Pulitzer. King brings together, in a clear narrative, a large cast of characters, the social and political climate of an era, the appalling institutional racism and violence perpetrated against African Americans, and the heroic work for civil rights. This account of four Black men falsely accused of raping a white girl in rural Florida is an example of microhistory that illuminated the history of a nation. I can’t imagine trying to survive in a culture of such brutality, injust ...more

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Jul 06, 2014 Monica rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle_nonfiction, biography-memoirs, 5-star, betterthanexpected, pub_2010s, history, soc-sci-politics, racial-matters

Riveting, infuriating and a little depressing. Reading about the uphill climbs for justice in America a little more than 60 years ago. Flagrant disregard and devaluing of people. The notion of bullies w/ the full, crazed and deputized forces of the KKK to terrorize black people. Timely because maybe historically the events are not the same, but the results are. If we do not learn the lessons of history, we are doomed to repeat it over and over and over. It may not be the KKK now, but this groupt Riveting, infuriating and a little depressing. Reading about the uphill climbs for justice in America a little more than 60 years ago. Flagrant disregard and devaluing of people. The notion of bullies w/ the full, crazed and deputized forces of the KKK to terrorize black people. Timely because maybe historically the events are not the same, but the results are. If we do not learn the lessons of history, we are doomed to repeat it over and over and over. It may not be the KKK now, but this groupthink/fear of the "other" can provide justification for anything. As the old saying goes, evil triumphs when good men do nothing (not that there were a whole lot of good men in Lake County Fla at that time). (view spoiler)

The book itself is excellent. It is written almost like a novel and the author doesn't waste words. There is a ton of information in each sentence and the cast of characters is large. The book requires a reader's full attention. However, that isn't difficult because it is so well written. I learned quite a bit. I also enjoyed the book for doing an excellent job in outlining the depths of commitment and dedication from so many unheralded people. I am now a huge Thurgood Marshall fan. I think had he been born 60 years later, we'd be looking at him for higher office (though he did pretty good for his time). This was a man who could talk to any/all audiences. A man with tremendous intelligence, wily and cunning, good natured, quick witted, quite skilled both as a lawyer and in public relations. The NAACP could have been far less effective had it not been for his leadership. An amazing man backed by quite a few amazing men and women who are almost footnotes/lost in the history. Books like this remind me that there were so many people who gave everything they had for racial fairness and equality. The list of leaders goes well beyond Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X and Thurgood Marshall. A really great, intense, riveting, and informative book.

5 stars ...more

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Jul 25, 2013 Elizabeth rated it really liked it · review of another edition

My version of a review. What I have thought and felt and experienced.

"Page 90
Gripping and horrifying, and I feel the truth."

07/4"Page 200
Institutionalized racism. The murder of The Groveland Boys, as they became known, took place in Florida, the south, in the late 1940s.

07/07 "page 300"
As I read I find myself questioning whether much has really changed in this country."

07/08
"In the postwar decade Florida would…prove to be a state with a boundless capacity for racial inhumanity, even by My version of a review. What I have thought and felt and experienced.

"Page 90
Gripping and horrifying, and I feel the truth."

07/4"Page 200
Institutionalized racism. The murder of The Groveland Boys, as they became known, took place in Florida, the south, in the late 1940s.

07/07 "page 300"
As I read I find myself questioning whether much has really changed in this country."

07/08
"In the postwar decade Florida would…prove to be a state with a boundless capacity for racial inhumanity, even by measure of the rest of the South…”

I deleted the last part of my review by mistake. It is below.

This is a book I think should be required reading. What we see and feel and taste here is not taught in classrooms across the U.S. This is a horrific, a 'I feel like I’m sitting on the edge of my seat' story, that is not fiction. It really happened, and not that long ago. Its repercussions and consequences were and are integral parts of who we have become as a people and what our country does and does not stand for today.

“Some" changes that smell like what it means to have decency and equality have been made by independent individuals, groups and in our state and federal laws. That said, I feel all the more certain after reading this work that there is still far too much overt and covert persecution and degradation that is still doled out physically or more subtly in what is said or left unsaid in certain company. Open and behind closed door racism is alive and well in this country. It is still hard wired in so many minds and souls.

The author has written this real story in a way that has taken me on a roller coaster ride of feelings and states of mind that range from soul-shattering, incensed, breathless, invigorated, grateful and spent. I was already awed by the unflinching conviction and bravery of Thurgood Marshall, and by the dignity, fear and strength of the Black teen boys who were murdered after being falsely accused of raping a white teen girl before reading Gibert King’s work. I was not expecting to learn so many new and critical lessons. We must never forget and we must be forever vigilant about the fine line we still walk that is made up of barbarism based on racial hatred and ignorance. Thank you for writing this book, Gilbert King.

...more

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Sep 21, 2013 Sheila rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I am well aware that Devil in the Grove has some flaws, but honestly I could never rate another book with 5 stars if I didn't give five stars to this book.

Gilbert King recounts the story of the Groveland "Boys", four black men falsely accused of rape in Florida in 1948. King backs up the story with detailed background information about the citrus industry in Florida, the Jim Crow South, the internal politics of the NAACP, the relationship of the NAACP to the FBI, Thurgood Marshall's other cases ...more

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Jun 22, 2013 Margaret Sankey rated it liked it · review of another edition

This is a sadly typical southern case--a false rape accusation, lynching attempts, local good old boy sheriff, the city newspaper fanning the flames irresponsibly, local industry dependent on docile and obedient black workforce in the orange groves, all-white juries, local Klan chapters and victories that came in getting life sentences rather than the electric chair. In 1951, Thurgood Marshall and several other NAACP legal defense fund stars risked their lives to go to Florida and intervene, alt ...more

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Jan 23, 2013 Beverly rated it it was amazing

Brutally honest account of a reign of terror in central Florida.
Well-researched and very accessible to read - talks not just to big players but also to the lesser known heroes. Focus on the Groveland incident but also seamlessly informs on the broader events in Florida and the United States.

A MUST read for all interested in American history.

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Apr 21, 2013 Allison rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Just won Pulitzer for nonfiction and much deserved. Riveting. Horrifying. Great research and insights into Thurgood Marshall during the fifties. The book bogged down a bit 3/4 of the way through....the legal issues in themselves aren't that interesting. ...more

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Jan 17, 2013 Walter rated it it was amazing

This is a great read and a deep and deeply disturbing book. Author Gilbert King does a masterful job of highlighting a defining case in the life and career of Thurgood Marshall as well as an underappreciated episode in our national stuggle for civil and human rights. Along the way, readers are exposed to the full range of our humanity - from the unconscionably evil to the truly innocent and all gradations in between - as well as to the opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made as a soc This is a great read and a deep and deeply disturbing book. Author Gilbert King does a masterful job of highlighting a defining case in the life and career of Thurgood Marshall as well as an underappreciated episode in our national stuggle for civil and human rights. Along the way, readers are exposed to the full range of our humanity - from the unconscionably evil to the truly innocent and all gradations in between - as well as to the opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made as a society in the past 60 years.

The Groveland Boys were four innocent Negroes who were framed for a rape that never occurred. The story of their interactions with the legal system of Central Florida - and eventually our appellate court system - is as tragic as it is disturbing. Sadly, it shouldn't surprise that the mere accusation of rape by a young southern white woman at mid-century generated an almost automatic response: (usually random) Negro suspects would be rounded up, railroaded by a local justice system that presumed their guilt and then executed (after state-level appeals courts rubberstamped the capital case decision). A few of these would have their appeals heard by the US Supreme Court and their executions stayed and/or commuted, but far more innocent men were rushed to judgment on the way to the hereafter without recourse.

(Spoiler alert: skip this next paragraph if you don't want to know about the outline of the case.)

In the 1949 Groveland, Florida, case, four Negro men - two pairs of friends who did not know each other - were rounded up after a distressingly baseless accusation by a local teenage wife in a troubled marriage. After a race riot in the town in which local leaders and law enforcement officers participated to exact retribution on the area's Negro population and a manhunt by a 1000-person posse that resulted in the supposedly unavoidably fatal shooting of the fourth suspect, the remaining three were beaten mercilessly to extract confessions - which two of them gave in order to end assaults so brutal that they likely would have continued until they proved fatal - and then tried and convicted on the flimsiest of evidence and sentenced severely - two to death by electrocution and the other (in a rare tacit acknowledgement of his likely innocence) to a life sentence. The NAACP became involved because of the egregiousness of the case - there was scant evidence other than the coerced confessions - which resulted in appeals to the Florida and US Supreme Courts and a retrial for two of the accused (as the third decided not to appeal in order not to expose himself to a likely death sentence upon an equally likely re-conviction). In the process of being retried, both of the remaining appellants are shot during an alleged escape attempt. The cold-blooded murderer turns out to be the local sheriff, assisted by his equally venal deputy, who makes an unfortunate (or, actually, fortunate) mistake: one of the suspects survives his putative execution (despite a final kill shot intended to finish him off that fails to do so when the convict is first discovered to be clinging to life). The remaining Groveland Boy is then re-tried (in what is in effect a kangaroo court in an adjacent county), re-convicted and re-sentenced to death, but this time his US Supreme Court appeal is denied. Only the public outcry against the travesty of justice in the case leads to his sentence eventually being commuted to life in prison by a newly installed governor intent on cleaning up the state's severely tarnished image in order to continue to encourage the economic explosion that's occuring there at the time. In a sad but predictable coda to the story, after serving two decades in prison for a crime that he did not commit (because it never occurred), and most of this time on death row, the recently paroled convict returns to Lake County for a brief visit with tragic results.

The book has a dual storyline: one strain is about the case and its milieu and the other is about Thurgood Marshall, his leadership of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and his development into a (if not the) leader in the first phase of the US Civil Rights Movement. The reality is that the latter aspect of the storyline, ostensibly a biography of one of the singular shapers of 20th century American history, is primarily focused on his professional life, while the former is a gripping (and therefore terrifying) exploration of the brutual realities of race in the mid-century American South. The Marshall biography is good, but the story of the Negro American experience is great: as profound as it is tragic. Simply put, the racism of the American South was as sadistic a regime as any other that we now decry (e.g., the Third Reich, the bloody Maoist Cultural Revolution in China, the Khmer Rouge, etc.) but ironically probably less well known and understood than the others (in no small part, I suspect, because it's far easier for us to judge external evils than our own).

So this is truly a fascinating (if appalling) story and because it's so well-written it becomes a rare experience indeed: it's a non-fiction page-turner. I read it in two days only because I had to stop reading - reluctantly - because my eyes got tired on the first. I literally couldn't put it down until I couldn't see anymore. In a word, it was a great book/read.

Until the last chapter, which, rather than being a comprehensive summation of a well-developed narrative feels more like an abbreviated (and therefore unsatisfying) coda to an otherwise incredible and extensively relayed story. And I would have liked a few more pictures. Those are about the only two minor quibbles that I can make relative to an otherwise outstanding effort.

In the end, I came to know and appreciate Thurgood Marshall and his role in our national journey a good deal more and I was blown away by learning about the reality of the Groveland case (of which I had heard but knew little previously). Having read about other 20th century American race tragedies like those in Rosewood (FL) and Tulsa (OK), I was familiar with the moral and legal corruption of the South in that era. But this book is so well-written that it felt like being there: I could feel the abject fear of the soon-to-be tortured suspects, the seething outrage of those of evolving conscience in response to the craven immorality of the local law enforcement and the celebrate-now-before-we-have-to-get-back-to-serious-and-dangerous-work abandon of the beleaguered but often jubilant NAACP LDF legal team.

I am still haunted by the profundity of the pathos and tragedy of this story. And I have an almost involuntarily deeper appreciation for the largely silent suffering of the millions of African-Americans of that era - even though I have studied this aspect of our national history for decades now - because this book sears the incidents into the reader's consciousness because of its profoundly moving vividity and acuity. In a word, it's deep: well-told and hauntingly so. I almost wish that I hadn't learned so much about this story, because now that I know it I feel compelled to be significantly more dismayed at the inhumanity of our society just a few generations ago. And yet I take some measure of comfort that a number of the white protagonists in this story were themselves so appalled by it that they (eventually) evolved beyond the hateful ethos of their milieu. To put it numerically, I take a 3-level of comfort, but I am disturbed at something that feels more like 9 or 10. And that's what great writing does, I guess. As ultimately disturbed as I am, I'm also thankful for the experience and this costly awareness as it will lead me to go forward differently and better as a member of a different time with its own challenges, a significant number of which are still race-affected if not race-based.

To sum it up, I recommend this book highly to those seeking a great read, to students of American and African-American history, to non-fiction readers looking for a compelling story and to fiction aficionados willing to experience something rare: non-fiction that reads like a great (if tragic) novel. ...more

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Jan 13, 2014 Jean rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-2014, non-fiction

“Devil in the Grove” won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction. Gilbert King did a lot of research to write the story; he goes into painstaking detail about the tactics used by Thurgood Marshall (future Supreme Court Judge) and his co-NAACP attorney Franklin Williams to chip away at the foundations of the Jim Crow Law. He documents in detail the reign of terror conducted in Lake County by the KKK and Sheriff Willis McCall who is portrayed as a ruthless brutal man. The book is about four black “Devil in the Grove” won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction. Gilbert King did a lot of research to write the story; he goes into painstaking detail about the tactics used by Thurgood Marshall (future Supreme Court Judge) and his co-NAACP attorney Franklin Williams to chip away at the foundations of the Jim Crow Law. He documents in detail the reign of terror conducted in Lake County by the KKK and Sheriff Willis McCall who is portrayed as a ruthless brutal man. The book is about four black men falsely accused of raping Normal Lee Padgett, a 17 year old white woman in Groveland Florida in 1949. King’s research shows that there was no physical evidence and two of the Groveland Four were not even within a day’s drive of the area Padgett claimed the rape took place. Sheriff McCall killed two of the men while in his custody. He was never charged for the shootings. The other two were badly beaten many times but no one was ever charged with the beatings. The KKK burned to the ground the black community in Groveland. King details the complicated case involving 4 defendants, several trials, various appeals, numerous defense attorneys, multiple judges and different points of law. I learned a few pearls from the story 1) more black man were lynched in Florida than any other Southern State and 2) these were the type of cases that evidentially lead to removing the death penalty from rape cases. I was appalled at the treatment of black people by the white in Lake County, if the blacks were the main pickers of the oranges, I just cannot understand why they were beaten and killed. Dead men do not pick oranges. Also it is a disgrace to have Sheriff McCall be re-elected to office for over 20 years. I read this book because I am reading books about the Supreme Court Justices and even though this book takes place before Marshall was appointed to the court I thought it would provide me with an insight into the man, which the book did. I read this book in audio book format. Peter Francis James did an excellent job narrating the book. ...more

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Oct 24, 2013 Eddie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

To give this book anything less than four stars would be beyond me. Why do I seek these emotionally, kick my ass books out? I'm addicted to hard facts and truths, not romanticized bull, I suppose. This book was a vivid and detailed account of four Groveland black men that were falsely accused of rape by a white woman and the evil and horrors that spiraled over from these false accusations. This book made me immensely sad in a lot of parts, the horrors that mostly black men faced in the south was ...more

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Feb 29, 2012 Jill rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Evaluation: This is a book that should be required reading. This horrifying, edge-of-your-seat tale really happened, and not that long ago. Its repercussions helped make the country what it is today. The author, who unearthed FBI files under seal for sixty years, has done an outstanding job in telling this story which manages to be heart-breaking, inspiring, infuriating, and admirable all at once.

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Jun 03, 2012 Linda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

It's always amazing to me to see how the Southern states continue to believe the Civil War was never fought. This is another case of 4 black men accused of raping a white woman, although the woman herself (17 at the time) showed no signs of rape, walked into a small restaurant in the early morning and told the owner's son, very calmly, that 4 men had abducted her but she couldn't identify them and that her husband might be lying out there dead.

Suffice it to say, 4 blacks, two of them Army vetera It's always amazing to me to see how the Southern states continue to believe the Civil War was never fought. This is another case of 4 black men accused of raping a white woman, although the woman herself (17 at the time) showed no signs of rape, walked into a small restaurant in the early morning and told the owner's son, very calmly, that 4 men had abducted her but she couldn't identify them and that her husband might be lying out there dead.

Suffice it to say, 4 blacks, two of them Army veterans, were picked up for this "crime." One of them had actually been in jail during the time the rape was supposed to have occurred. One of them, pursued by law enforcement (he had no idea why he was running) was shot and killed. The first trial found all guilty but gave the one who had been in jail at the time a life sentence rather than death. The other two were given death sentences.

The NAACP took the case all the way to the Supreme Court and won a retrial for the remaining two. Unexplicably, the sheriff who had originally arrested them, beaten them, beaten them again on the way to the state prison, who also (with his deputy) manufactured "evidence" against them, was assigned to drive them from the state pen back to the small town for retrial. Somehow, on the way back, the "boys" tried to escape and were both shot.

Unfortunately for the sheriff, one of them survived and gave his story to the FBI, the NAACP, and the court. Unfortunately for the accused, he was tried in a Florida courtroom in 1952. He was again sentenced to death and removed to the state prison. Over several years, various groups, individuals and the NAACP got his sentenced commuted.

Strangely enough, after a couple of years of freedom, he was found dead. Amazing isn't it?

Although I get frustrated when reading these books, I enjoy them for the history. That people can really believe what these Southerners did is amazing. It always turns out the same way, but you keep hoping that one white juryman who actually listens to the evidence, that white lawyer (like Atticus Finch) will take on the case and show the utter absurdity of it, etc.

But it doesn't happen. Very often. Just occasionally. ...more

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Sep 12, 2013 Roxanne Russell rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: pulitzer-nonfiction

Any book about the South and the experience of African-Americans is going to be difficult to read. However, I felt some personal growth in my ability to engage with this story. As a Southern white woman, I've always cringed so deeply in disgust and shame at the behavior of Southern whites that I think it has often clouded my ability to get past the horror to see the amazing feats of the heroes in these stories. As I read Devil in the Grove, I felt more uplifted by the courage and integrity of th ...more

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Jul 26, 2013 Beth rated it liked it · review of another edition

This is an important book and well worth reading. I was somewhat disappointed in this book given that it had won the Pulitzer Prize for history. It was fascinating to read about Thurgood Marshall and the Civil Rights movement before MLK. There was a lot I didn't know about.

Reviews of the book suggest that it reads like a novel (think Hellhound on His Trail). This wasn't the case for me. The author often gets bogged down in descriptive tangents. Perhaps he had enough for two books and edited. But ...more

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Play Book Tag: [Poll Ballot] Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King - 4 stars	1	9	Jan 06, 2020 11:42AM
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About Gilbert King

Gilbert King

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Gilbert Anthony King is an American writer and photographer.

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“A lawyer’s either a social engineer or he’s a parasite on society.” — 6 likes

“There is a law governing the meeting of the races. When a powerful race meets a helpless race, two things happen. First, there is a carnival of crime. Cruelty and oppression take place: some men in each race become hard-hearted. But the reverse also happens thereafter; goodness and mercy are developed; certain men become saints and heroes. —John Jay Chapman, The” — 5 likes

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