What is Willis V. McCall?
{{Use American English|date=March 2021}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Willis V. McCall | image = | image_size = | caption = Photo of Willis McCall taken in 1951, 15 minutes after he claimed to have been attacked by Sam Shepherd and Walter Irvin. | office = 10th [[Lake County Sheriff's Office (Florida)|Sheriff of Lake County, Florida]] | term_start = 1944 | term_end = 1972 | birth_name = Willis Virgil McCall | birth_place = [[Umatilla, Florida]] | birth_date = July 21, 1909 | death_date = {{death date and given age|1994|4|28|84}} | death_place = [[Eustis, Florida]] | occupation = Sheriff | years_active = | party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] }} '''Willis Virgil McCall''' (July 21, 1909 &ndash; April 28, 1994) was [[sheriff]] of [[Lake County, Florida]] for many years, from 1944 to 1972. He was elected seven times in a row. While he was sheriff, he supported [[Racial segregation|segregation]], meaning he supported laws that kept white people and black people apart, almost always with black people getting fewer resources and worse conditions. He enforced [[anti-miscegenation laws]], which forbade black people and white people from marrying each other. He is famous because of the 1949 [[Groveland Case]]. In 1951, while he was taking two of the Groveland men to their new trial, he shot them, killing one. McCall said he had shot them in [[self-defense]]. He was not charged with a crime for this.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://themercury.com/features/books_and_writing/a-tale-of-rape-race-and-deceit-in-1950s-florida/article_6f9acaa1-e692-5bad-8ff7-18b818d5e726.html|title=A tale of rape, race and deceit in 1950s Florida|first=Jennifer Szalai New York Times News|last=Service|website=The Mercury|accessdate=March 22, 2021}}</ref> McCall ran for an eighth term as sheriff in 1972, but he lost. Also in 1972, he was on tr