‘Today, history moved forward in Florida’ as House agrees to Groveland 4 compensation

The families of the Groveland 4 are now closer to receiving $1 million each, nearly 80 years after the tragic events in Central Florida.

Both the House and Senate have agreed to provide $4 million to the families of Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, and Ernest Thomas, marking what many consider a historic moment in the Legislature.

“Today, history moved forward in Florida,” Sen. LaVon Bracy Davis told Florida Politics late Friday night. “This moment is about more than dollars. It’s about acknowledging the truth, honoring the pain these families have carried for generations, and taking a real step toward justice.”

Bracy Davis’s bill to compensate the families did not pass during the 2026 Regular Session. The Orlando Democratic Senator’s proposal received bipartisan support and passed the Senate unanimously, but it stalled in the House and was never brought up for a hearing. The Senate brought her proposal back during this month’s budget talks, and both sides seem to have reached an agreement late Friday night.

“We are now one step closer, and I remain hopeful that Governor DeSantis will sign this historic investment into law,” Bracy Davis said.

Ron DeSantis has supported efforts to clear the Groveland 4’s names and has spoken about the injustices they faced. He did not respond to a February request for comment about his support.

DeSantis campaigned on a promise to pardon the Groveland 4, and he fulfilled that promise early in his first term after being elected.

“For seventy years, these four men have had their history wrongly written for crimes they did not commit. As I have said before, while that is a long time to wait, it is never too late to do the right thing,” DeSantis said in 2019 when he issued the full pardon for what happened in Lake County.

In 1949, 17-year-old Norma Padgett and her husband’s car broke down on the side of the road. Shepherd and Irvin stopped to help the couple.

A disagreement followed. In the Jim Crow South, this led to lies, false accusations, and a powerful Sheriff who acted on his own sense of justice.

Thomas was shot over 400 times by an angry mob.

While transporting two of the men to jail, Sheriff Willis McCall and Deputy Sheriff James Yates shot at them. Irvin, who was handcuffed, survived by pretending to be dead. Shepherd was killed.

Greenlee, the last of the four, served 12 years in prison and died in 2012.

During emotional hearings in Tallahassee, family members of the Groveland 4 spoke about the generational trauma that affected their families and cast a shadow over their lives.