Play Book Tag discussion

Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America by Gilbert King
5 stars + ♥

I can think of no better person to read about for the tag African American than Thurgood Marshall. Marshall was a significant driving force behind the civil rights changes in the 40s and 50s, orchestrated the decades long march toward Brown v. Board that overturned the separate by equal doctrine, and then became the first black SCOTUS justice.

And, in the midst of the string of cases leading up to Brown, he put the weight of the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund into the case of the Groveland Boys in Florida. Four young black men who were accused of raping a white woman. Devil in the Grove is the story of that case. And, it was atrocious.

King dives into 1940s Florida. A time and place defined by lynchings, the Klan, false accusations, and outright racist hatred. A place where it was impossible for a black man to get anything even resembling a fair trial. A time when a life sentence for an innocent black man was a win because he wasn't sentenced to death and could live to file another appeal.

And, during this time, Lake County, Florida, bred one of the most despicable human beings I have ever read about: Sheriff McCall. The things that Sheriff McCall did to these black man, the evidence he fabricated, the murders he committed and got away with will make your skin crawl. And the truly terrifying aspect is that this is just one named man amongst a sea of unnamed men who did the exact same thing across the south.

I cannot even begin to rave enough about this book. It read like a court room drama, I learned so many new things, and I gained even more respect for Marshall (at least the legal Marshall, he was a bit of a philandering cad in his personal life). This is my favorite type of history book: a deep dive into a single event that really gives it life and sets the story in the proper social and historical context. A microhistory? Am I using that descriptor correctly? Well deserving of the Pulitzer.

I almost chucked this book across the room at the end due to a glaring factual error, but am interaction with the author saved it. I have put the email exchange below if anyone is interested in reading it.

Bottom line: I highly recommend this book and the audio is wonderful.

So, at the end of the book, there is a detail that was so blatantly inaccurate that I had to email the author to point it out. This is the exchange:

My email to Mr. King
Dear Mr. King,

I recently finished Devil in the Grove and was enthralled from page one. I recently read the other outstanding testament to Justice Marshall, Simple Justice, and together the two books describe some of the most seminal moments in civil rights history.

However, I was struck by an inaccuracy at the end of your book, which was particularly glaring given your thorough research. I normally would not lay this at your feet, but I listened to the excerpt (I experienced this book on audio) five times and it became only more obvious upon rereading.

At around 93%, you begin diving into the Brown v. Board decision, and these are specifically the connections you make:

• Brown v. Board was unanimously decided, and the LDF and Marshall celebrated. I do not remember you saying the date specifically, but it was decided in May 1954. This is the first and only time you point our Marshall's relationship with Cissy.
• Brown triggered protests and violence in the south, including in Florida, and you go on to discuss the Platt's struggle to get their children into school in Lake County and Sheriff McCall's continued racist actions to keep them out of school.
• McCall then becomes part of the NAAWP and speaks at their 1954 conference citing that there needs to be action and not just words. This triggers Marshall's reinvigorated efforts to get Irvin's execution stayed/commute his sentence.
• You then discuss how the lame-duck Florida governor, Charley Johns, refused to stay the execution in the final months before the 1954 special election (which would ultimate election Governor LeRoy Collins).
• After Governor Johns refused to stay Irvin's execution, Marshall had to take more drastic actions.
• And this is where the inaccuracy occurs. You state that Marshall goes to Chief Justice Vinson to take action, and Marshall finds him at a hotel in DC playing cards with President Truman.
• Chief Justice Vinson suddenly died in September 1953 before Brown v. Board was even decided! Chief Justice Warren was appointed and authored Brown. And, Truman left office in January 1953, and by late 1954 he was firmly ensconced back in Independence, Missouri.
• You further underscore the date that Chief Justice Vinson, with the help of Justice Black, aided in temporarily staying Irvin's execution, and you note that it was on November 6th, exactly three years after Irvin was shot by Sheriff McCall/Deputy Yates. Irvin was shot on November 6, 1951, so that would make this action take place on November 6, 1954.
• This date aligns with the post-Brown timeline and being the eve of the 1954 Governor election; however, it definitely does NOT align with Chief Justice Vinson and President Truman.

Again, I would like to underscore how much I enjoyed this book and I appreciate the work you put into your research to craft an accurate and engaging story. While many people may see this as a small detail, I found it so glaring as to taint my overall enjoyment of the book and I felt I needed to highlight it. I cannot imagine that I am the first person to do so, as I am not a historian, simply an arm-chair history enthusiast.

To be honest, I can vividly picture Justice Marshall telling this exact story of Vinson and Truman—Marshall was known for his embellished stories!—but it easily should have failed the fact-check process.

Thank you for taking the time to read my comments and I welcome any response from you.

Mr. King's response
Dear Nicole,

Thanks very much for your note, and your kind words.

You are indeed correct about Vinson's death. This was pointed out to me by another reader not long ago, and I'm afraid I wasn't clear enough in this passage. I had intended to refer to a previous instance when Marshall busted in on Vinson and Truman's card game. I had written more about it, but in the editing process, it was trimmed down to one simple line... "He'd done it before, stopped an execution..." I recognize now, thanks to eagle-eyed readers like you, that this edit fails to make this flashback more clear. I've since edited this passage to provide a date, which will be added in future editions, so that I avoid this confusion.

I do appreciate hearing from careful readers like you, and I apologize for the distraction. Thank you again for reading so closely!

Yours,

Gilbert

Nice work, Nicole!

Yay! A response from the author. One time where the editing was a fail and needs to be fixed.

Awesome that you got a response!!!

Wow, that's really fantastic that a) you identified the anomaly and b) you wrote the author. And even more awesome that he responded and will be addressing the issue!

I am definitely putting this book on my TBR.