Thurgood Marshall has established himself as an ethical lawyer, distinguished by his commitment to racial equality in the 1940-50s. He has earned himself the nickname "Mr. Civil Rights." When a white teenage girl in Groveland, Florida claims to have been raped by four black men, her case receives the utmost attention. Jim Crow laws have corrupted the justice system in the south, but this case becomes so high profile that it is sent to the Supreme Court. Marshall is secured as the defendants' legal representative by the NAACP.
The Supreme Court decides to overturn the state's decision in favor of the plaintiff. This leads to a retrial in Florida. Controversy surrounding the case leads to turmoil and contention throughout the state. Eventually the KKK leads violent attacks on African American communities, lynching many young men. They manage to shoot two of the Groveland Boys, thanks to renowned white supremacist Sheriff Willis McCall. He later declares they were attempting to escape during transport. They also murder an NAACP representative who is working with Marshall, named Harry T. Moore.
Marshall begins fearing for his life. He has become the representative of the civil rights movement in the south. He receives countless death threats, especially after Moore's murder. One of the defendants who was shot survives his wounds to tell the FBI that Sheriff McCall and his deputies shot him in cold blood. Marshall is able to use this information to call the Florida jury's guilty verdict into question. Four years after sentencing the wrongly accused man, Irvin, is granted life in prison instead of death. And in 1968 he received parole.
In 2017 the Florida House of Representatives exonerated all four of the defendants posthumously. This case proved fundamental in the success and subsequent popularity of the civil rights movement.
