which influential civil rights lawyer began her career as a law clerk for thurgood marshall?

by Cleve Hagenes 4 min read

In 1943, she began her studies at Columbia Law School, graduating in 1946. Upon graduating from law school, Constance Baker married Joel Wilson Motley Jr. and began working as a law clerk to Thurgood Marshall at the NAACP's Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

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What did Thurgood Marshall do for civil rights?

The film brought renewed public interest to the life and work of Marshall. Today, the esteemed judge is celebrated for helping to put an end to racial segregation and promoting various types of human rights. Ultimately, Marshall’s steadfast push for equality forever shaped the American justice system.

Was Thurgood Marshall the first black justice?

Jennifer Rosenberg is a historian and writer who specializes in 20th-century history. Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908–January 24, 1993), whose great-grandparents were enslaved, was the first Black justice appointed to the United States Supreme Court, where he served from 1967 to 1991.

What did Thurgood Marshall argue in his opening statement to the court?

The case came before the U.S. Supreme Court in December 1952. Marshall made it clear in his opening statements to the Supreme Court that what he sought was not merely a resolution for the five individual cases; his goal was to end racial segregation in schools. He argued that segregation caused Black students to feel innately inferior.

Who were Thurgood Marshall's clerks?

Former law clerks for Thurgood Marshall, including William W. Fisher (from left), Randall Kennedy, and Carol Steiker, discuss the late Supreme Court justice ahead of his upcoming biopic.

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What was Constance Baker Motley known for?

With her appointment to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on January 25, 1966, Constance Baker Motley (1921–2005; Columbia Law School 1946, 2003) became the first African American woman appointed to the federal judiciary. She was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Who appointed Thurgood Marshall?

Lyndon B. JohnsonThurgood Marshall / AppointerLyndon Baines Johnson, often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice president from 1961 to 1963 under President John F. Kennedy. Wikipedia

What was Constance Baker Motley's greatest accomplishment?

In 1964, Motley became the first Black woman elected to the New York State Senate; in 1965 she was chosen Manhattan Borough President – the first woman and first Black American in that position; and in 1966, President Johnson named her a Federal Court judge – the first Black woman so named.

What did Constance Baker Motley do for the civil rights movement?

From 1946 through 1964, she was a key litigator and legal strategist for landmark civil rights cases including the Montgomery Bus Boycott and represented Martin Luther King Jr. as well as other protesters arrested and jailed as a result of their participation in sit-ins, marches, and freedom rides.

Who was the Supreme Court appointee before Thurgood Marshall?

The solution to the Supreme Court appointee before Thurgood Marshall crossword clue should be: ABEFORTAS (9 letters)

Who preceded Thurgood Marshall?

Archibald CoxThurgood MarshallPreceded byArchibald CoxSucceeded byErwin GriswoldJudge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second CircuitIn office October 5, 1961 – August 23, 196522 more rows

What impact did Thurgood Marshall have on the civil rights movement?

Thurgood Marshall—perhaps best known as the first African American Supreme Court justice—played an instrumental role in promoting racial equality during the civil rights movement. As a practicing attorney, Marshall argued a record-breaking 32 cases before the Supreme Court, winning 29 of them.

Why was Constance Baker Motley considered the civil rights queen?

She handled hundreds of civil rights cases over a twenty-year period that began in 1945 and continued through 1965—efforts that remade American law and society. In 1954, she played an invaluable role in Brown v. Board of Education, a singular case in twentieth-century American constitutional law.

Which Supreme Court justice was known as the little man's lawyer?

Thurgood MarshallDue to his untiring dedication and skillful court presentations, he became known as the "little man's lawyer." In 1936 Thurgood Marshall became a staff lawyer under Houston for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Who was the first female Supreme Court justice?

Sandra Day O'ConnorAs the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States, Sandra Day O'Connor became an inspiration to millions.

Who was the first black woman to argue before the Supreme Court?

While Ray achieved countless “firsts,” it was Lucy Terry Prince who became the first African-American woman to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court.

What was Thurgood Marshall's role in the Civil Rights Movement?

Sources. Thurgood Marshall—perhaps best known as the first African American Supreme Court justice—played an instrumental role in promoting racial equality during the civil rights movement. As a practicing attorney, Marshall argued a record-breaking 32 cases before the Supreme Court, winning 29 of them.

What was Marshall's first major court case?

Life as a Lawyer. In 1935, Marshall’s first major court victory came in Murray v. Pearson, when he, alongside his mentor Houston, successfully sued the University of Maryland for denying a Black applicant admission to its law school because of his race.

How many cases did Marshall win?

As a practicing attorney, Marshall argued a record-breaking 32 cases before the Supreme Court, winning 29 of them. In fact, Marshall represented and won more cases before the high court than any other person.

What university did Marshall go to?

Marshall decided to attend Howard University Law School, where he became a protégé of the well-known dean, Charles Hamilton Houston, who encouraged students to use the law as a means for social transformation. In 1933, Marshall received his law degree and was ranked first in his class.

How did Marshall's wife die?

Personally, Marshall suffered a great loss when Vivian, his wife of 25 years, died of cancer in 1955. Shortly after her death, Marshall married Cecilia Suyat, and the couple went on to have two sons together.

Where did Thurgood Marshall go to high school?

His father, William Marshall, was a railroad porter, and his mother, Norma, was a teacher. After he completed high school in 1925, Marshall attended Lincoln University in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Just before he graduated, he married his first wife, ...

What was Marshall's greatest victory?

Board of Education of Topeka (1954): This landmark case was considered Marshall’s greatest victory as a civil-rights lawyer. A group of Black parents whose children were required to attend segregated schools filed a class-action lawsuit.

Who was Thurgood Marshall?

Education. Lincoln University, Pennsylvania ( BA) Howard University ( LLB) Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American lawyer and civil rights activist who served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from October 1967 until October 1991. Marshall was the first African-American ...

Where did Marshall practice law?

After graduating from law school , Marshall started a private law practice in Baltimore. He began his 25-year affiliation with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1934 by representing the organization in the law school discrimination suit Murray v. Pearson. In 1936, Marshall became part of the national staff of the NAACP.

How many times was Thurgood Marshall married?

Marshall was married twice. He married Vivian "Buster" Burey in 1929. After her death in February 1955, Marshall married Cecilia Suyat in December of that year. They were married until he died in 1993, having two sons together: Thurgood Marshall Jr., a former top aide to President Bill Clinton; and John W. Marshall, a former United States Marshals Service Director and Virginia Secretary of Public Safety.

How did Marshall die?

Board of Education. Marshall died of heart failure at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, on January 24, 1993, at the age of 84. After he lay in repose in the Great Hall of the United States Supreme Court Building, he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

What was Marshall's most famous case?

Florida, 309 U.S. 227 (1940). That same year, he founded and became the executive director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. As the head of the Legal Defense Fund, he argued many other civil rights cases before the Supreme Court, most of them successfully, including Smith v. Allwright, 321 U.S. 649 (1944); Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1 (1948); Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629 (1950); and McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, 339 U.S. 637 (1950). His most historic case as a lawyer was Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), the case in which the Supreme Court ruled that " separate but equal " public education, as established by Plessy v. Ferguson, was not applicable to public education because it could never be truly equal. In total, Marshall won 29 out of the 32 cases he argued before the Supreme Court.

When was the Thurgood Marshall airport renamed?

The major airport serving Baltimore and the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., was renamed the Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport on October 1, 2005.

When was Marshall confirmed as a Justice?

Marshall was confirmed as an Associate Justice by a Senate vote of 69–11 on August 30, 1967 (32–1 in the Senate Republican Conference and 37–10 in the Senate Democratic Caucus) with 20 members voting present or abstaining. He was the 96th person to hold the position, and the first African American.

What is Thurgood Marshall's role in the Civil Rights Movement?

Thurgood Marshall is revered as a titan of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, the architect of the landmark court case that ended legal segregation in America’s public schools, and the first African-American Supreme Court justice.

Who clerked for Marshall in the 80s?

For Randall Kennedy, Michael R. Klein Professor of Law, who clerked for Marshall in the ’80s, the associate justice was a source ...

What was Marshall's legacy?

All of the panelists highlighted Marshall’s legacy of advancing the Civil Rights Movement through the law, most prominently in the historic school desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education, in his 1967–1991 term on the Supreme Court , and in his extraordinary and courageous earlier career as a lawyer fighting for racial ...

Why did the South say he always knew when he had an innocent client?

And one thing he said often is that he always knew when he had an innocent client because that’s when the jury would sentence him to life imprisonment instead of death. And that really stuck in my head.”.

Where did Marshall grow up?

Marshall regularly regaled clerks with stories of his life growing up in Baltimore, of his dangerous journeys to the South working for the NAACP, and his tenure on the Supreme Court.

Who was the lawyer in the movie "The Last Jedi"?

Directed by Reginald Hudlin ’83, the film features Marshall as a young attorney in a 1941 criminal case in which he defended a black chauffeur and butler falsely accused of sexual assault and kidnapping by his employer, a white socialite.

Who is Martha Minow?

For Martha Minow, former dean of Harvard Law School, Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence, and University Distinguished Service Professor , who also clerked for Marshall, he was the embodiment of a deep commitment to social justice and faith in the power of the rule of law to bring equal rights to all eventually.

Where did Marshall study law?

Marshall studied law at Howard University. As counsel to the NAACP, he utilized the judiciary to champion equality for African Americans. In 1954, he won the Brown v. Board of Education case, in which the Supreme Court ended racial segregation in public schools.

Who was the most influential figure in the Civil Rights Movement?

Marshall stands alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X as one of the greatest and most important figures of the American civil rights movement. Although he may be the least popularly celebrated of the three, Marshall was arguably the most instrumental in the movement's achievements toward racial equality.

What was Marshall's greatest achievement?

The great achievement of Marshall's career as a civil-rights lawyer was his victory in the landmark 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of a group of Black parents in Topeka, Kansas, whose children were forced to attend all-Black segregated schools. Through Brown v. Board, one of the most important cases of the 20th century, Marshall challenged head-on the legal underpinning of racial segregation, the doctrine of "separate but equal" established by the 1896 Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson.

What was the Supreme Court case that Marshall won?

Another crucial Supreme Court victory for Marshall came in the 1944 case of Smith v. Allwright, in which the Court struck down the Democratic Party's use of white people-only primary elections in various Southern states.

What was the significance of the Board case?

Board, one of the most important cases of the 20th century, Marshall challenged head-on the legal underpinning of racial segregation, the doctrine of "separate but equal" established by the 1896 Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson.

What did Marshall do in 1934?

Over several decades, Marshall argued and won a variety of cases to strike down many forms of legalized racism, helping to inspire the American civil rights movement.

What high school did Marshall attend?

Marshall attended Baltimore's Colored High and Training School (later renamed Frederick Douglass High School), where he was an above-average student and put his finely honed skills of argument to use as a star member of the debate team. The teenage Marshall was also something of a mischievous troublemaker.

Who was Thurgood Marshall?

Patricia Daniels. Updated January 23, 2020. Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908–January 24, 1993), whose great-grandparents were enslaved, was the first Black justice appointed to the United States Supreme Court, where he served from 1967 to 1991. Earlier in his career, Marshall was a pioneering civil rights attorney who successfully argued ...

What are some interesting facts about Thurgood Marshall?

Fast Facts: Thurgood Marshall 1 Known For: First Black Supreme Court justice, landmark civil rights lawyer 2 Also Known As: Thoroughgood Marshall, Great Dissenter 3 Born: July 2, 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland 4 Parents: William Canfield Marshall, Norma Arica 5 Died: January 24, 1993 in Bethesda, Maryland 6 Education: Lincoln University, Pennsylvania (BA), Howard University (LLB) 7 Published Works: Thurgood Marshall: His Speeches, Writings, Arguments, Opinions, and Reminiscences (The Library of Black America series) (2001) 8 Awards and Honors: The Thurgood Marshall Award, established in 1992 by the American Bar Association, is presented annually to a recipient to recognize "long-term contributions by members of the legal profession to the advancement of civil rights, civil liberties, and human rights in the United States," the ABA says. Marshall received the inaugural award in 1992. 9 Spouse (s): Cecilia Suyat Marshall (m. 1955–1993), Vivian Burey Marshall (m. 1929–1955) 10 Children: John W. Marshall, Thurgood Marshall, Jr. 11 Notable Quote: "It is interesting to me that the very people...that would object to sending their white children to school with Negroes are eating food that has been prepared, served, and almost put in their mouths by the mothers of those children."

How many cases did Thurgood Marshall win?

Overall, between 1940 and 1961, Marshall won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. Brown v. Board of Education. In 1951, a court decision in Topeka, Kansas became the stimulus for Thurgood Marshall's most significant case.

What case did Marshall win?

Marshall, in 1940, won the first of his Supreme Court victories in Chambers v. Florida, in which the Court overturned the convictions of four Black men who had been beaten and coerced into confessing to a murder. For another case, Marshall was sent to Dallas to represent a Black man who had been summoned for jury duty and who had been dismissed ...

How did Marshall die?

W. Bush. Marshall was replaced by Justice Clarence Thomas . Marshall died of heart failure on Jan. 24, 1993, at age 84; he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

What was Marshall known for?

As his reputation grew, Marshall became known not only for his skill as a lawyer but also for his bawdy sense of humor and love of storytelling. In the late 1930s, Marshall represented Black teachers in Maryland who were receiving only half the pay that White teachers earned.

Why was Marshall sent to Dallas?

For another case, Marshall was sent to Dallas to represent a Black man who had been summoned for jury duty and who had been dismissed when court officers realized he was not White. Marshall met with Texas governor James Allred, whom he successfully persuaded that Black Americans had a right to serve on a jury.

What did Marshall do for the Supreme Court?

During his nearly 25-year tenure on the Supreme Court, Marshall fought for affirmative action for minorities, held strong against the death penalty, and supported of a woman's right to choose if an abortion was appropriate for her.

What was Marshall's first legal case?

After graduating from Howard, one of Marshall's first legal cases was against the University of Maryland Law School in the 1935 case Murray v. Pearson. Working with his mentor Charles Hamilton Houston, Marshall sued the school for denying admission to Black applicants solely on the basis of race.

What was the impact of Marshall's rule on the Supreme Court?

His mission was equal justice for all. Marshall used the power of the courts to fight racism and discrimination, tear down Jim Crow segregation, change the status quo, and make life better for the most vulnerable in our nation.

What was Marshall's most famous case?

Marshall's most famous case was the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case in which Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren noted, "in the field of public education, the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.".

Who was the first black supreme court justice?

Thurgood Marshall. Thurgood Marshall was a civil rights lawyer who used the courts to fight Jim Crow and dismantle segregation in the U.S. Marshall was a towering figure who became the nation's first Black United States Supreme Court Justice.

Where did Marshall go to law school?

A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Marshall graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1930. He applied to the University of Maryland Law School but was rejected because he was Black. Marshall received his law degree from Howard University Law School in 1933, graduating first in his class.

Who was the chief of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund?

Soon after, Marshall joined Houston at NAACP as a staff lawyer. In 1940, he was named chief of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which was created to mount a legal assault against segregation. Marshall became one of the nation's leading attorneys.

Who was the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court?

Marshall founded LDF in 1940 and served as its first Director-Counsel. He was the architect of the legal strategy that ended the country’s official policy of segregation and was the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court. He served as Associate Justice from 1967-1991 after being nominated by President Johnson.

What did Marshall do after he graduated?

Immediately after graduation, Marshall opened a law office in Baltimore , and in the early 1930s, he represented the local NAACP chapter in a successful lawsuit that challenged the University of Maryland Law School over its segregation policy. In addition, he successfully brought lawsuits that integrated other state universities.

What did Marshall do to ensure that America would forever remain a divided society?

To fail to do so is to ensure that America will forever remain a divided society.”. In particular, Marshall fervently dissented in cases in which the Supreme Court upheld death sentences; he wrote over 150 opinions dissenting from cases in which the Court refused to hear death penalty appeals.

What did Marshall say about segregation?

Board of Education, which he argued before the Supreme Court in 1952 and 1953, finally overturning “separate but equal” and acknowledging that segrega tion greatly diminished students’ self-esteem.

What was the NAACP's goal in 1936?

In 1936, Marshall became the NAACP’s chief legal counsel. The NAACP’s initial goal was to funnel equal resources to black schools. Marshall successfully challenged the board to only litigate cases that would address the heart of segregation.

What was the Supreme Court opinion in Marshall v. Logan Valley Plaza?

Among Marshall’s salient majority opinions for the Supreme Court were: Amalgamated Food Employees Union v. Logan Valley Plaza, in 1968, which determined that a mall was “public forum” and unable to exclude picketers; Stanley v. Georgia, in 1969, held that pornography, when owned privately, could not be prosecuted.

When did Thurgood Marshall retire?

He served as Associate Justice from 1967-1991 after being nominated by President Johnson. Marshall retired from the bench in 1991 and passed away on January 24, 1993, in Washington D.C. at the age of 84. Civil rights and social change came about through meticulous and persistent litigation efforts, at the forefront of which stood Thurgood Marshall ...

How many civil rights cases did Marshall win?

If Martin Luther King Jr. was the moral and spiritual leader of the civil-rights movement, Marshall was its general, and he wanted results. Instead of making speeches, he made law. As the NAACP’s top attorney from 1938 to 1961, he argued 32 civil-rights cases before the Supreme Court, winning 29—among them Smith v.

What did Marshall do when he learned of a racist product on the shelf?

When he learned of a racist product on the shelf, like Whitman’s Pickaninny Peppermints, Marshall fired off a note to its manufacturer ; he answered bigoted newspaper stories with letters to the editor. More than once, he almost got himself killed.

How long was Marshall in the hot seat?

But sitting in the hot seat for five days, he was mostly on his own. He would have liked to be able to give as good as he got. No one was better than Marshall at patiently, and sometimes thunderously, exposing the hypocrisies of Jim Crow.

Why did Marshall go to the South?

Soon after graduating first in his class from Howard University’s law school, Marshall marched into the South to represent criminal defendants, soldiers, and laborers in jury trials. He coordinated the NAACP’s national legal strategy in countless lawsuits and hounded the FBI to prevent or respond to racial violence.

How many votes did the Senate approve of Marshall?

In the end, the Judiciary Committee approved the nomination with an 11–5 vote, and the full Senate confirmed Marshall, 69–11.

Did Marshall keep his temper?

Marshall kept his temper and repeatedly answered, “I don’t know, sir.”. Later, Ted Kennedy asked Thurmond whether he could name the committee members. He couldn’t. Although Marshall has a strong claim to being King’s equal as a civil-rights leader, his reputation could use a little polish.

Who were the allies of Marshall in the Escobedo case?

As Ervin worked himself into a lather, Marshall deftly pivoted from constitutional theory to the facts in the record: “Bear in mind that in the Escobedo case, the lawyer was standing outside trying to get in.” Marshall had allies on the committee in Senators Kennedy, Joseph Tydings, and Phil Hart.

Early Life and Education

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Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 2, 1908. He was descended from enslaved persons on both sides of his family. He was named Thoroughgood after a great-grandfather, but later shortened it to Thurgood. His father, William Canfield Marshall, worked as a railroad porter, and his mother, Norma Arica Williams, work…
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Legal Career

  • After graduating from law school, Marshall started a private law practice in Baltimore. He began his 25-year affiliation with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1934 by representing the organization in the law school discrimination suit Murray v. Pearson. In 1936, Marshall became part of the national staff of the NAACP. In Murray v. Pearson…
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Death and Legacy

  • Marshall died of heart failure at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, on January 24, 1993, at the age of 84. After he lay in repose in the Great Hall of the United States Supreme Court Building, he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.He was survived by his second wife and their two sons. Marshall left all his personal papers and notes to the Library of …
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Memorials

  • Numerous memorials have been dedicated to Marshall. An 8-foot (2.4 m) statue stands in Lawyers Mall adjacent to the Maryland State House. The statue, dedicated on October 22, 1996, depicts Marshall as a young lawyer and is placed just a few feet away from where stood the Old Maryland Supreme Court Building, the court where Marshall argued discrimination cases leadin…
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in Popular Culture

  • Marshall is portrayed by Sidney Poitier in the 1991 two-part television miniseries, Separate but Equal, depicting the landmark Supreme Court desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education. In 2006, Thurgood, a one-man play written by George Stevens Jr., premiered at the Westport Country Playhouse, starring James Earl Jones and directed by Leonard Foglia. Later it opened Broadway …
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Marriage and Family

  • Marshall was married twice. He married Vivian "Buster" Burey in 1929. After her death in February 1955, Marshall married Cecilia Suyat in December of that year. They were married until he died in 1993, having two sons together: Thurgood Marshall Jr., a former top aide to President Bill Clinton; and John W. Marshall, a former United States Marshals Service Director and Virginia Secretary o…
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Thurgood Marshall Award

  • In 1993, the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico institutedthe annual Thurgood Marshall Award, given to the top student in civil rights at each of Puerto Rico's four law schools. It includes a $500 monetary award. The awardees are selected by the Commonwealth's Attorney General.
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Bibliography

  • Marshall, Thurgood (2001). Tushnet, Mark V. (ed.). Thurgood Marshall: His Speeches, Writings, Arguments, Opinions and Reminiscences. Kennedy, Randall (foreword). Chicago: Chicago Review Press, Inco...
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See Also

External Links

  1. Appearances on C-SPAN:
  2. Fox, John, "Biographies of the Robes: Thurgood Marshall", Expanding Civil Rights, Public Broadcasting Service.
  3. Oyez, "Thurgood Marshall", official Supreme Court media.
  4. Oral History Interview with Thurgood Marshall, from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library
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Who Was Thurgood Marshall?

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Thurgood Marshall was an American lawyer who was appointed as an associate justice of the Supreme Court in 1967. He was the first African American to hold the position and served for 24 years, until 1991. Marshall studied law at Howard University. As counsel to the NAACP, he utilized the judiciary to champion equalit…
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Early Life and Family

  • Marshall was born on July 2, 1908, in Baltimore, Maryland. His father, William Marshall, was the grandson of an enslaved person who worked as a steward at an exclusive club, and his mother, Norma, was a kindergarten teacher. One of William's favorite pastimes was to listen to cases at the local courthouse before returning home to rehash the lawyers' arguments with his sons. Thu…
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Education

  • Marshall attended Baltimore's Colored High and Training School (later renamed Frederick Douglass High School), where he was an above-average student and put his finely honed skills of argument to use as a star member of the debate team. The teenage Marshall was also something of a mischievous troublemaker. His greatest high school accomplishment, memorizing the entir…
See more on biography.com

Court Cases

  • In 1934, Marshall began working for the Baltimore branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1936, Marshall moved to New York City to work full time as legal counsel for the NAACP. Over several decades, Marshall argued and won a variety of cases to strike down many forms of legalized racism, helping to inspire the American civil rights …
See more on biography.com

Circuit Court Judge and Solicitor General

  • In 1961, newly-elected President John F. Kennedyappointed Marshall as a judge for the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Serving as a circuit court judge over the next four years, Marshall issued more than 100 decisions, none of which was overturned by the Supreme Court. In 1965, Kennedy's successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, appointed Marshall to serve as the first Black U.S. soli…
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Supreme Court Justice

  • In 1967, President Johnson nominated Marshall to serve on the bench before which he had successfully argued so many times before the United States Supreme Court. On October 2, 1967, Marshall was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice, becoming the first African American to serve on the nation's highest court. Marshall joined a liberal Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice E…
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Personal Life and Wife

  • Marshall married Vivian "Buster" Burey in 1929, and the couple remained married until her death in 1955. Shortly thereafter, Marshall married Cecilia Suyat, his secretary at the NAACP. The couple had two sons together, Thurgood Jr. and John Marshall.
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Legacy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X

  • Marshall stands alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm Xas one of the greatest and most important figures of the American civil rights movement. Although he may be the least popularly celebrated of the three, Marshall was arguably the most instrumental in the movement's achievements toward racial equality. Marshall's strategy of attacking racial inequality through th…
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