Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America
- Publisher
- Harper; Harper Perennial
- First published
- 2012
- Length
- ≈ 434 pages
- Reading time
- 11–15 hours
- ISBN
- 0061792268
Reading time assumes 30–40 pages per hour; edition and reading pace affect this estimate. Edition source
What is this book about?
Devil in the Grove is a history of the lawyer Thurgood Marshall’s defence of four young Black men in Lake County, Florida, who were accused in 1949 of raping a white woman. They became known as the Groveland Boys. Gilbert King sets the case against the booming citrus industry of the time, which depended on African-American labourers living under Jim Crow laws, and against the rule of the county’s sheriff, Willis V.
McCall, who was known for his harsh treatment of Black residents. Marshall led a team from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Source: Devil in the Grove
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