Since relocating to Florida, I have been purposely reading books set in my new home state. Devil in the Grove is well-researched nonfiction about a legal case known as the Groveland Boys. A talented author wrote the book, yet it is a disturbing story about Lake County in Florida. The main story is about four young Black men accused of raping a white woman on July 15, 1949. Police eventually kill one of the four escapes, and the other three withstand beatings by law enforcement officials, go to prison, and stand trial. Other threads of the story describe the widespread lynchings and discrimination against Blacks in the South, particularly in Florida, which has the dubious record of having more lynchings than any other state.
While describing events leading up to the trial of Sam Shepherd, Walter Irvin and
Charles Greenlee, the reader learns a great deal about the power of Sheriff William McCall of Lake County. His blatant racism and corruption mark his term from 1940 to 1972. When the author demonstrates how closely he and other sheriffs identify with the Klu Klux Klan, I wanted to believe that the story was fiction. It is so alarming that the bias in law enforcement is so deep-seated.
Norma Lee Padgett, the white woman and supposed victim of the rape, is described as a “bad egg” by community members, and her story is contrived and hardly credible. Yet, because she is white, she is protected by the sheriff, his men, and most neighbors. Norma and her family are part of the orange grove, Minute Maid culture, and we meet others who were integral to these agricultural communities in Florida. So many elements of everyday life emphasized the huge racial divisions in the Jim Crow south.
Throughout the book, we also learn about the development of the NAACP and particularly Thurgood Marshall’s role in its growth. Marshall’s leadership in the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund monitored the legal proceedings of the Groveland Boys, and his eventual personal involvement led to the story garnering national attention. Marshall’s engagement brought some semblance of honesty to the case, but unfortunately, the book and overall case do not have a happy ending.
