The Plight of the Underdog
As the protagonist, Thurgood Marshall is positioned as a champion in the text. He is, however, the underdog. Faced with a trial which is predetermined in the eyes of the corrupt judge, jury, and law enforcement, he persists in his commitment to integrity. Marshall actually performs his job as legal representative for the defense remarkably well, despite his enormous handicaps in the case. Not only is public opinion opposing his cause, but he works under countless death threats. When his associate, Harry T. Moore, is murdered, Marshall faces the real question of futility, yet he continues. According to Marshall, every life is valuable. He continues to fight for the lives of the four accused even at risk of losing his own in the process. This is the ultimate story of the underdog. In the end Marshall loses the case, but he does later manage to win Irvin parole and to spare the accused the death penalty.
Mob Rule
Florida is the state which boasts the most racially motivated lynchings during the mid 20th century, more than Georgia or Mississippi. This case with the Groveland Boys was used as license for hundreds of acts of violence. As Marshall quickly realizes after taking the case, the public has no interest in justice. King notes how the lynchings were performed en mass by member of the KKK in African American communities. Every time their claim was that it was justice for the plaintiff in the Groveland Boys case. Seemingly many of the people living in Florida accepted this line because they already felt frustrated by the lasting effects of Reconstruction in the south and attempts at integration. Although they had Jim Crow laws, they seemed eager to push even further for racial dominance. Individuals lost their voices within the mob of angry southern white supremacists, and this mob rule threatened the authority of the government, of which many representatives proved to be corrupt.
Commitment to a Higher Cause
Marshall's actions as defense lawyer in the Groveland case demonstrate his commitment to something greater than himself. HIs cause was not so much "civil rights" as human rights. He believed that people are people and should be treated with the utmost respect accordingly, regardless of their ancestry. Marshall's heroic work defending the accused inspired generations of civil rights activists to follow. The movement needed a linchpin, a representative, and a motive. It found all three in this case, which continued to be actively contested until 2017. In King's account, the KKK took the case as license to commit increasingly brutal violence against black communities, but he also presents how those on the side of justice and equality learned from the events in Florida and rallied together to bring about change. Although there was no justice for the Groveland Boys, their legacies endure to this day. Their injustice led to a fierce commitment to justice, devoid of racial prejudice, in the years following the event.
