GROVELAND FOUR'S MONUMENT UNVEILING SET FOR FEBRUARY 21

A monument dedicated to the Groveland Four will be unveiled at 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 21 on the lawn of the Lake County Historic Courthouse.

The monument honors the four men known as the Groveland Four -- Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd and Ernest Thomas -- who, in 1949, were wrongfully accused of rape in Groveland, Florida. In January 2019, the men were posthumously pardoned by the Florida Clemency Board, which called their convictions and treatment a “miscarriage of justice.”

In 2012 Gilbert King penned a non-fiction book titled "Devil in the Grove" that chronicled attorney Thurgood Marshall's defense of the four young black men.  The Pulitzer Prize-winning book highlighted the racial injustice in Lake County and put the case in the national spotlight along with another book, “The Groveland Four: The Sad Saga of a Legal Lynching,” by Gary Corsair. 

The public is invited to join Groveland Four family members, community leaders and elected officials for the ceremony.  The granite memorial will feature a bronze plaque imprinted with a written account of the men’s ordeal, which was prepared with the help of their families.  King and Corsair along with Governor Ron DeSantis and State Representative Geraldine Thompson will be in attendance to share remarks at the event.

Public parking will be available in the parking garage at the intersection of Sinclair Avenue and Maud Street in Tavares. 

Beginning at 6 p.m. on Feb. 20, West Main Street will be closed from Sinclair Avenue to Texas Avenue and will reopen following the event. During the closure, southbound pickup will be available for LakeXpress transit patrons at stop LX11161, located at West Main Street and North Rockingham Avenue in lieu of stop LX11157, located at West Main Street and Texas Avenue.

For more news and events in Mount Dora, Tavares & Eustis, this month, click here.  Discover the area's online entertainment calendar here. Also download the area's free mobile app.  ​​​

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