At last, an apology for ‘Groveland Four’
Florida House acknowledges black men as ‘victims’
TALLAHASSEE — Nearly 68 years after four black men were falsely accused of the rape of a white woman, the Groveland Four won key support Tuesday from the Florida House in the quest to get an apology from the state.
The bill “extends a heartfelt apology” to Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd and Ernest Thomas, who were accused of raping Norma Padgett in July 1949, and acknowledges they “were the victims of gross injustices and that their abhorrent treatment by the criminal justice system is a shameful chapter in this state’s history.”
Family members of the nowdeceased men watched as the bill passed.
Greenlee’s daughter, Carol, choked back tears as she thanked lawmakers for the unanimous vote.
“I was the child, I was the baby, that my father went to Groveland to find a job to support that day in 1949,” said Greenlee, whose dad died in 2012 at 78. “And today I can be free, I feel like I can talk about
it.”
The measure (HCR 631) also asks Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet to expedite a hearing to consider a full pardon for the Groveland Four.
The Senate has yet to pass the bill, but it has received unanimous support in three committee hearings.
“The state of Florida was wrong, and we’re sorry,” said Rep. Bobby DuBose, D-Fort Lauderdale, sponsor of the measure.
Three of the Groveland Four — Greenlee, Shepherd and Irvin — were arrested and beaten severely while held in the Lake County jail. Greenlee and Shepherd were assaulted so badly that they confessed to the crime, even though Greenlee was 20 miles away at a retail store when the incident occurred. Irvin didn’t confess despite the beatings.
Thomas, however, fled to the Panhandle, where he was hunted down by a posse of 1,000 men and fatally shot more than 400 times.
The remaining three were convicted, with Greenlee sentenced to life in prison and Shepherd and Irvin sentenced to death. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the convictions of Shepherd and Irvin and ordered a retrial in 1951.
While taking Shepherd and Irvin back to jail, Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall shot both of them, claiming they were trying to escape. Shepherd died at the scene, but Irvin survived.
Irvin’s sentence was later commuted to life in prison. He was paroled in 1968, only to be found dead, officially of a heart attack, in his car while visiting Lake County in 1969. Greenlee got parole in 1960.
Jeanette Shepherd Tatum, niece of Samuel Shepherd, said the incident, which happened when her father, Henry Shepherd, was 12 years old, scarred him for life.
“My dad never talked about it ... I think it was a pain they wanted to put away,” Tatum said.
In the aftermath of the incident, a mob came and burned down the home of Samuel Shepherd’s parents.
“Our home was the one that they raided and burnt down and sent my grandma and granddad running from Groveland,” Tatum said. “So I never really got a chance to meet my granddad.”
The push to apologize to the Groveland Four got a boost after the book “Devil in the Grove” by Gilbert King detailing their story was published in 2013.
Former Sen. Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando, sponsored the bill in 2015, but it was never heard. She came to Tallahassee to see it pass.
“We want these families to know that they do have leaders who listen, they do have leaders who care,” said Thompson, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress last year.
No Central Florida lawmakers were the prime sponsors of the bill, but Rep. Larry Metz, R-Yalaha, whose district includes Groveland, said he supported the measure.
“I believe it’s never too late to do the right thing,” Metz said. “In this case we have a record of grave injustice that occurred.”