Mabel and the Platt Family Children
As the case of the Groveland Four was being argued in courtrooms, in the mid-1950s Mabel stepped up once again – this time to defend the Platts, a poor family whose children were suspected of being ‘negroes’ who were not allowed to attend Mount Dora’s whites-only public schools. Mabel’s extensive coverage on the Platt children and their legal battle to remain in school earned the attention of the national media, led to a nomination for a Pulitzer Prize for her articles in the Mount Dora Topic, and infuriated Sheriff McCall and his allies in the Ku Klux Klan who launched a campaign of terror and intimidation to get her to back down.
Naturally… she didn’t.