Vwegba Blogging World

The Tragic Story Of The Groveland Four, The Black Men Who Were Accused Of Rape In Jim Crow Florida On July 16, 1949, 17-year-old Norma Padgett of Groveland, Florida claimed that she and her husband, Willie, were driving home from a dance when their car broke down and a group of four Black men approached them to see if they needed help. She said the men then attacked her husband before abducting and raping her. The small community immediately jumped into action, forming violent mobs to hunt down the alleged attackers. Within two weeks, they'd tracked down four suspects who became known as the Groveland Four: Ernest Thomas, Samuel Shepherd, Walter Irvin, and Charles Greenlee.⁠ ⁠ Thomas was shot 400 times by one of the mobs while sleeping under a tree. The other three men were arrested and brutally beaten by police to force confessions out of them. They were found guilty by all-white juries, despite no proof tying any of the men to the attack. In fact, there wasn't even evidence t...