Florida House Issues Apology for 1949 Lynchings and Wrongful Convictions

In 1949, Norma Padgett, a white 17-year-old, false­ly accused four young black men in Groveland, Florida of kid­nap­ping and rap­ing her. Nearly 70 years lat­er, the state of Florida is apol­o­giz­ing to the fam­i­lies of the ​“Groveland Four,” two of whom were mur­dered and two of whom were wrong­ly sen­tenced to death. 

After the false accu­sa­tions, enraged white res­i­dents of Lake County went on a vio­lent ram­page, shoot­ing at and burn­ing the homes of black res­i­dents. The Governor sought help from the National Guard to quell the vio­lence. One of the false­ly accused young men, Ernest Thomas, escaped from the coun­ty jail and was shot dead by an angry mob of 1,000 men led by Lake County sher­iff Willis V. McCall. Thomas was shot 400 times. The three oth­ers who had been false­ly accused were beat­en into giv­ing false con­fes­sions, then quick­ly tried and con­vict­ed by an all-white jury. The youngest, Charles Greenlee, who was only 16 years old, was sen­tenced to life in prison. Samuel Shepherd and Walter Irvin, both Army vet­er­ans, were sen­tenced to death. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed their con­vic­tions and ordered a new trial. 

During their trans­port from the coun­ty prison for court pro­ceed­ings, Sheriff McCall claimed the pair tried to escape and shot both men, killing Shepherd. Irvin played dead, sur­vived the shoot­ing, and was again tried and sen­tenced to death. Irvin received a last-minute reprieve from exe­cu­tion and his sen­tence was com­mut­ed by the Governor. Greenlee and Irvin were both grant­ed parole in the 1960s. Irvin died in 1970 and Greenlee in 2012. 

The Groveland Four, as the men came to be known, were final­ly giv­en a for­mal apol­o­gy from the Florida House of Representatives on April 19, 2017, near­ly 70 years after they were first accused. Rep. Bobby DuBose (D‑Fort Lauderdale), spon­sored the bill and said, ​“This res­o­lu­tion, while seem­ing­ly minute, sym­bol­izes the great state of Florida look­ing those fam­i­lies in the eyes — fam­i­lies, with chil­dren, who grew up not know­ing their fathers but only knew their records. This res­o­lu­tion is us sim­ply say­ing, ​‘We’re sor­ry’ — under­stand­ing we will nev­er know or make up for the pain we have caused.” 

The res­o­lu­tion, which says the Groveland Four, ​“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,” and calls on Gov. Rick Scott to expe­dite posthu­mous par­dons, passed the House unan­i­mous­ly. The Senate is expect­ed to vote soon on its ver­sion of the bill. [UPDATE: On April 27, 2017, the Florida Senate approved an identical resolution.]