why was thurgoodbmarshall a brilliamt lawyer

by Elton Wilkinson 4 min read

After founding the NAACP Legal Defense Fund
NAACP Legal Defense Fund
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. is America's premier legal organization fighting for racial justice.
in 1940, Marshall became the key strategist in the effort to end racial segregation, in particular meticulously challenging Plessy v. Ferguson, the Court-sanctioned legal doctrine that called for “separate but equal” structures for white and Black people.

What was a great achievement of Thurgood Marshall's career as a lawyer?

Jun 18, 2018 · Thurgood Marshall, lawyer and civil rights activist who was the first African American member of the U.S. Supreme Court, serving. ... Thurgood Marshall was a brilliant legal mind. Thurgood Marshall ‘You need to work twice as hard’ this is a statement that almost every other African American parent has told their child. Why is this?

Was Thurgood Marshall the first black Solicitor General?

Nov 16, 2019 · 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...

Was Thurgood Marshall a liberal or a conservative?

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. He is best known for arguing the historic 1954 Brown v.

What was the name of the court that Thurgood Marshall served on?

Thurgood Marshall, originally Thoroughgood Marshall, (born July 2, 1908, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.—died January 24, 1993, Bethesda), lawyer, civil rights activist, and associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1967–91), the Court’s first African American member. As an attorney, he successfully argued before the Court the case of Brown v.

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Jan 11, 2021 ¡ 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...

Was Thurgood Marshall a good lawyer?

Marshall was the Court's first African American justice. Prior to his judicial service, he successfully argued several cases before the Supreme Court, including Brown v. Board of Education. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Marshall graduated from the Howard University School of Law in 1933.

Why was Thurgood Marshall a successful civil rights advocate?

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. He is best known for arguing the historic 1954 Brown v.

What kind of lawyer was Thurgood Marshall?

civil-rights lawyer
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.

What are some important facts about Thurgood Marshall?

Thurgood Marshall
  • Occupation: Lawyer and Supreme Court Justice.
  • Born: July 2, 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland.
  • Died: January 24, 1993 in Bethesda, Maryland.
  • Best known for: Becoming the first African-American Supreme Court Justice.

How did Thurgood Marshall make an impact 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.Jan 25, 2021

What was Thurgood Marshall's major accomplishments?

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.

What are Thurgood Marshall character traits?

It would capture and memorialize the essential qualities of Marshall's character-his physical courage, his intellectual brilliance and professional expertise, his moral strength, and his utter disregard for fame and wealth.Feb 16, 1994

What are two ways Marshall impacted civil rights in America?

Oklahoma Board of Regents of Higher Education (1950). Having won these cases, and thus, establishing precedents for chipping away Jim Crow laws in higher education, Marshall succeeded in having the Supreme Court declare segregated public schools unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education (1954).

What was Thurgood Marshall famous quote?

Known for his earlier work in helping end legal segregation through the 1954 landmark case Brown v. Board of Education, he once described his judicial approach by simply saying, "You do what you think is right and let the law catch up."Jan 28, 2021

Did Thurgood Marshall only have 1 testicle?

Marshall lost one of his testicles and did not get back to Lincoln until the fall semester of 1928, a semester behind his classmates. He was now a member of the class of 1930. And his friends had a nickname for him: One Ball.

Who was the first black person on the Supreme Court?

Thurgood Marshall
Johnson nominated distinguished civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall to be the first African American justice to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Marshall had already made his mark in American law, having won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the Supreme Court, most notably the landmark case Brown v.

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.

How many cases did Marshall win?

Marshall became one of the nation's leading attorneys. He argued 32 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, winning 29. Some of his notable cases include: Smith v. Allwright (1944), which found that states could not exclude Black voters from primaries. Shelley v.

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 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 ...

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.

What was the case that Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka?

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.

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.

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 ...

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 do to end segregation?

After founding the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in 1940, Marshall became the key strategist in the effort to end racial segregation, in particular meticulously challenging Plessy v. Ferguson, the Court-sanctioned legal doctrine that called for “separate but equal” structures for white and Black people. Marshall won a series of court decisions that gradually struck down that doctrine, ultimately leading to Brown v. Board of Education, which he argued before the Supreme Court in 1952 and 1953, finally overturning “separate but equal” and acknowledging that segregation greatly diminished students’ self-esteem. Asked by Justice Felix Frankfurter during the argument what he meant by “equal,” Mr. Marshall replied, “Equal means getting the same thing, at the same time, and in the same place.

What is Marshall's legacy?

Marshall’s status as a pillar of the Civil Rights Movement is confirmed and upheld by LDF and other organizations that strive to uphold the principles of civil rights and racial justice. His legacy cannot be overstated: he worked diligently and tirelessly to end what was America’s official doctrine of separate-but-equal.

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.

What did President Johnson say about Marshall's nomination?

On the appointment, President Johnson later said that Marshall’s nomination was “the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the right place.”.

Who was Thurgood Marshall?

Thurgood Marshall, originally Thoroughgood Marshall, (born July 2, 1908, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.—died January 24, 1993, Bethesda), lawyer, civil rights activist, and associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1967–91) , the Court’s first African American member. As an attorney, he successfully argued before the Court the case of Brown v.

What was Marshall's first law practice?

Upon his graduation from Howard, Marshall began the private practice of law in Baltimore. Among his first legal victories was Murray v. Pearson (1935), a suit accusing the University of Maryland of violating the Fourteenth Amendment ’s guarantee of equal protection of the laws by denying an African American applicant admission to its law school solely on the basis of race. In 1936 Marshall became a staff lawyer under Houston for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); in 1938 he became the lead chair in the legal office of the NAACP, and two years later he was named chief of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

What did Marshall argue in Brown v. Board of Education?

Indeed, students of constitutional law still examine the oral arguments of the case and the ultimate decision of the Court from both a legal and a political perspective; legally, Marshall argued that segregation in public education produced unequal schools for African Americans and whites (a key element in the strategy to have the Court overrule the “separate but equal” doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson [1896]), but it was Marshall’s reliance on psychological, sociological, and historical data that presumably sensitized the Court to the deleterious effects of institutionalized segregation on the self-image, social worth, and social progress of African American children.

How many cases did Marshall win?

Throughout the 1940s and ’50s Marshall distinguished himself as one of the country’s top lawyers, winning 29 of the 32 cases that he argued before the Supreme Court. Among them were cases in which the Court declared unconstitutional a Southern state’s exclusion of African American voters from primary elections ( Smith v.

Why did Marshall serve on the Supreme Court?

Marshall served on the Supreme Court as it underwent a period of major ideological change.

What was the significance of Marshall's reliance on psychological, sociological, and historical data?

Ferguson [1896]), but it was Marshall’s reliance on psychological, sociological, and historical data that presumably sensitized the Court to the deleterious effects of institutionalized segregation on the self-image, social worth, and social progress of African American children. Brown v.

Where did Marshall go to law school?

After being rejected by the University of Maryland Law School because he was not white, Marshall attended Howard University Law School; he received his degree in 1933, ranking first in his class.

Why was Marshall rejected from law school?

Despite being overqualified academically, Marshall was rejected because of his race. This firsthand experience with discrimination in education made a lasting impression on Marshall and helped determine the future course of his career.

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.

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 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 the first African American to be elected to the Supreme Court?

Thurgood Marshall was instrumental in ending legal segregation and became the first African American justice of the Supreme Court.

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.

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 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.

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.

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 wrote "There is only one way to handle that bunch"?

After decades of voter suppression, Thurgood Marshall of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund rolled up his sleeves and got out his briefcase. “There is only one way to handle that bunch,” he wrote to a black newspaper editor in 1940, “and that is to take them into court. This we must do.”. Knopf.

Early Life

Image
Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 2, 1908. He was descended from enslaved peoples 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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Law 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.[citation needed] Marshall left all his personal papers and notes …
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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 (a meter or two) away from where stood the Old Maryland Supreme Court Building, the court where Marshall argued discrimi…
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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, based on the phrase separate but equal. In 2006, Thurgood, a one-man play written by George Stevens Jr., premiered at the Westport Country Playhouse, starring James Earl Jones and direct…
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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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Early life and education

Image
Marshall was born on July 2, 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland to William Marshall, railroad porter, who later worked on the staff of Gibson Island Club, a white-only country club and Norma Williams, a school teacher. One of his great-grandfathers had been taken as a slave from the Congo to Maryland where he was eventually fr…
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Early career

  • 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. In 1936, Marshall became the NAACPs chief legal couns…
See more on naacpldf.org

Significance

  • After founding the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in 1940, Marshall became the key strategist in the effort to end racial segregation, in particular meticulously challenging Plessy v. Ferguson , the Court-sanctioned legal doctrine that called for separate but equal structures for white and blacks. Marshall won a series of court decisions that gradually s...
See more on naacpldf.org

Leadership

  • In 1957 LDF, led by Marshall, became an entirely separate entity from the NAACP with its own leadership and board of directors and has remained a separate organization to this day.
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Later career

  • In 1961, President Kennedy nominated Marshall to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in which he wrote 112 opinions, none of which was overturned on appeal. Four years later, he was appointed by President Johnson to be solicitor general and in 1967 President Johnson nominated him to the Supreme Court to which he commented: I have a lifetime appointment and I intend to …
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Criticisms

  • As a Supreme Court Justice, he became increasingly dismayed and disappointed as the courts majority retreated from remedies he felt were necessary to address remnants of Jim Crow. In his Bakke dissent, he wrote: In light of the sorry history of discrimination and its devastating impact on the lives of Negroes, bringing the Negro into the mainstream of American life should be a sta…
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Legacy

  • 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. Among Marshalls salient majority opinions for the Supreme Court were: Amalgamated Food Employees Union v. Logan Valley Plaza, in 1968, which determined that a m…
See more on naacpldf.org