LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – Seven decades after a mob violence tore through Lake County and the state of Florida is still working to make amends.
Thursday, the Florida Senate passed a bill that would allow the families of the “Groveland Four” to be paid out millions.
The bill now heads to the full Senate for a vote.
From there, it would be sent to the House.
For those who don’t know, the story of the “Groveland Four” is one of the darkest chapters in Central Florida’s history.
It’s the story of four 16-year-old Black teens: Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, and Ernest Thomas being falsely accused of raping a White girl back in 1949.
“This bill is about justice, not merely remembered as history but carried forward as responsibility,” said Sen. LaVon Bracy Davis (D-Orange County), who’s pushing a bipartisan bill to offer $4 million to the families of the “Groveland Four.”
“Charles Greenlee was just 16 years old, Samuel Shepherd and Walter Irvin were beaten, confessions were coerced, Ernest Thomas was hunted down by a mob of 1,000 men and shot more than 400 times,” she added.
Two years after Thomas’ death, during a jail transfer, the sheriff of Lake County would shoot Walter Irvin and Samuel Shepherd, killing Shepherd.
The Sheriff then claimed those men had attacked him and were trying to escape.
The two surviving members of the “Groveland Four” would be found guilty by all-White juries and sent to prison.
In 2016, four years after the last member of the Groveland Four died, Lake County and the city of Groveland apologized for the injustice.
In 2019, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued pardons for the men, with a judge in 2021 officially exonerating them.
Now, the state is looking to take one more step to make amends for this blight on Central Florida’s history.
“While we’re working to close the book, so to speak, on this horrible event, I think as a government we should also look forward to how we can avoid these things in the future,” said Sen. Ralph Massullo (R-Sumter County).