Devil in the Grove

The author recalls the case of Willie James Howard, a young black Florida boy who was lynched in 1944 for the “crime” of giving a Christmas card with a romantic message to a white girl. This case drew the attention of Harry Tyson Moore, a schoolteacher and Florida NAACP official, who teamed up with Marshall to press for punitive action—with no success. Now Moore takes action in the Groveland case, repeatedly urging Florida governor Fuller Warren to prosecute the mob responsible for the violence and vandalism against black citizens.

We meet Franklin Williams, a 31-year-old NAACP attorney who a few years previously handled the case of Isaac Woodard, a black World War II veteran who had been beaten and blinded by police in South Carolina.

In this and other cases, the NAACP found itself in a tense relationship with the FBI, headed by J. Edgar Hoover, which often lacked sensitivity in how it handled civil rights cases. Marshall uses his influence to urge the FBI to recommit itself to such cases. Moreover, as the FBI starts to crack down on communist activity, Marshall attempts to present an anticommunist face to the NAACP. Marshall and Hoover commend each other’s work and pledge future cooperation.