UPDATE: Florida legislators fund $4M compensation for The Groveland Four

After years of advocacy, compensation for the families of Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, and Ernest Thomas was added to the state budget at the last minute this session. These were four Black men whose lives were destroyed by a racist legal system after being falsely accused of raping a white woman in 1949 in Lake County. The Florida Senate had already passed a standalone bill SB 694 unanimously; however, the bill was never heard in the House. As a last-minute addition, $4 million was included in the Attorney General’s budget for Groveland Four relief. This is a critical moment for a fight that began with the Late Senator Geraldine Thompson and is being carried to completion by her successor, Senator Lavon Bracy-Davis. 

The state has spent years acknowledging what was done to these men. In 2017, the Legislature admitted they were victims of gross injustices. In 2019, they received full pardons. In 2021, a court finally dismissed their indictments. Words, pardons, and court orders have come, but the families have been waiting for real accountability. Compensation won't undo decades of pain, stolen futures, and generational harm. This is a step in the right direction to provide a remedy for their wrongful deaths and convictions.