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Oral history interview with Denmark Groover, Jr., 1997 April 18

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@ University of West Georgia. Special Collections

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Denmark "Denny" Groover (1922-2001) served various terms from Bibb and Jones counties as a Democratic state legislator from the 1950s to the 1990s. He is remembered for his fight to include the Confederate emblem on the state flag in reaction to federal enforcement of integration. Three months before his death, Groover gave a conciliatory speech urging the removal of the emblem and adoption of a new flag.; Interviewed by Dr. Mel Steely on April 18, 1997 at an unspecified location.; Groover begins by talking about his family and growing up in a small segregated Southern town, noting that he had been particularly interested in sports and had been interested in history while he was in school. His step-grandfather, Duke Pierce, was a lawyer and was influential on Groover's formative years, sparking his initial interest in law - he notes that the years that Eugene Talmadge was in office were particularly interesting to him. After attending the University of Georgia until his sophomore year, he moved to Birmingham, Alabama where he attended law school through classes offered through the YMCA. It was here that he heard of the attack on Pearl Harbor at the age of nineteen. Groover talks about his decision to volunteer as an aviator for the Navy in 1942 and his experiences in training. He selected to join the Marines at the end of his training and served under Major Greg Boyington with the Black Sheep Squadron. Groover goes on to talk at length about the time he...

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University of West Georgia. Special Collections

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Digital Library of Georgia