Just the Facts: Book Discussion Recap from August 21

The attendance at the last book discussion was five people, but the amount of conversation made it seem as if twice that number was there. Many thanks, as always, for their presence.

Our book last night was Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland boys and the dawn of a new America by Gilbert King. The book is about a criminal case in Groveland, Florida in 1949 where a young white woman accused four young black men of rape. They were convicted and sentenced to death or life imprisonment. The case was shoddy, the defendants were tortured to obtain their confessions and the jury, the judge, the witnesses, the prosecuting attorney and the police were all white. The sheriff in the case, Willis V. McCall, was as vile as any caricature of a white, southern bigot imaginable. At this point, Thurgood Marshall and the N.A.A.C.P. became involved. The book reads like a John Grisham legal thriller and describes not just Marshall’s efforts to save the Groveland boys’ lives, but his attempts to overthrow the Jim Crow system of justice and to achieve equal rights throughout the United States. With the recent events in Ferguson, Missouri, the book is especially pertinent.

Our next meeting will be on Thursday, September 18, 2014. The book to be discussed, Mathew Brady: portrait of a nation by Robert Wilson, is available at the Circulation Desk. All are welcome.