“Devil in the Grove” by Gilbert King for the Impatient Reader

In the racially charged atmosphere of 1949 Florida, “Devil in the Grove” by Gilbert King unveils the gripping true story of four young African American men falsely accused of raping a white woman, and the heroic efforts of Thurgood Marshall to defend them.

The Groveland Boys, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, Charles Greenlee, and Ernest Thomas.

“Devil in the Grove” by Gilbert King is a riveting account of the Groveland Boys case, a landmark legal battle that took place in Florida during the Jim Crow era.

The book meticulously chronicles the events surrounding the false accusation of rape against four young African American men, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, Charles Greenlee, and Ernest Thomas, and the subsequent trial that captured the attention of the nation.

Set in 1949, Lake County, Florida, the story begins with the alleged rape of a white woman, Norma Padgett, and the immediate arrest of the four black men who were in the vicinity.