Book played a role in posthumous pardons for Groveland Four

You’ve heard the news that Florida’s Groveland Four — African-American men convicted of raping a white woman based on what is now seen as questionable evidence — have officially received posthumous pardons.

You may not have realized, though, that the road to these pardons was paved by a Pulitzer Prize-winning book.

Gilbert King published Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America in 2012, renewing attention on — and skepticism about — the case.

King spoke with the Tampa Bay Times last Friday, the day the men were declared innocent; you can read his reaction here.