The Groveland Four: Righting a historical injustice

The Groveland Four Clemency Coalition (GFCC), a group of citizens bringing justice to wrongly accused victims, gained justice for The Groveland Four, four young African-American men wrongly accused of rape, by creating a communications and advocacy program during a high-profile election year.

Situation

Nearly 70 years ago, four African American men – Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, and Ernest Thomas – were falsely accused and wrongly convicted in one of the most shameful episodes of Florida history. Accused of raping a white 17-year old woman in 1949, the local sheriff, along with the Ku Klux Klan, pursued these four young black men who came to be known as "the Groveland Four boys."

Over the last few decades, passioned activists brought this story to light through television documentaries, media coverage and a Pulitzer Prize winning book, Devil in the Grove....

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