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Birth
Thurgood Marshall was born July 2, 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland. His great grandfather was taken from the modern day Democratic Republic of Congo and brought to the United States to be a slave. His grandfather was also enslaved. -
Lawschool
Thurgood applied for law school was denied admission to the University of Maryland because he was black. This event haunted him and because a motivating factor during his career. That same year, he got into Howard University Law School in Washington D.C. -
First Case as a Lawyer
He was the layer for Donald Gaines Murray who was suing the University of Maryland for denying him admittance to their law school program. The University of Maryland outsourced black students to other colleges. Marshall's main defense was that the state of Maryland's segregation policy violated the "separate but equal" rule established by Plessy v. Ferguson; he stated that because the state didn't provide a comparable educational opportunity for black students state-run black institution. -
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Marshall was affiliated with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for 25 years. His first case was in 1934 by representing the organization in the law school discrimination suit Murray v. Pearson. Marshall became part of the national staff of the NAACP in 1936. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
Thurgood Marshall was the lawyer that argued for Brown vs. Board. In 1954, after his many arguments and court proceedings, the Supreme Court declared public education segregation as unconstitutional. This court decision overturned Plessy vs. Furguson, which had allowed state sponsored segregation. -
Appointment to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
President John F. Kennedy appointed Marshall to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1961. While there he wrote over 150 decisions. These included: immigration, government illegal search and seizure, double jeopardy, and privacy rights. None of this 98 majority decisions were ever reversed the Supreme Court. -
Supreme Court Appointment
President Lydon B. Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall to fill the seat of retiring Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark. After a heated debate, his position was confirmed by the United States Senate by a vote of 69 to 11. Two days later he was sworn in and the first African American to a member of the Supreme Court. -
Roe vs. Wade
Marshall sat on the Supreme Court for the landmark case Rowe vs. Wade. This court case guaranteed the right of women to have abortions, instead of abortions being restricted to the health of the mother. This case is still widely being discussed and caused a national argument. -
Retirement
Thurgood Marshall retired in 1991 after a lengthy career that had national impact. His support for equal rights established a new precedence that is continually being built upon today. -
Death
Thurgood Marshall died of heart failure in the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland on January 24, 1993. He was 84 years old. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
He left all his personal papers and notes to the Library of Congress. James H. Billington was the librarian at the time and opened all of Marshall's papers for immediate use by scholars, journalists and the public, because he knew that Marshall would want to continue helping others. -
Current Events
Thurgood Marshall fought for equal rights. He broke the norms of traditional white roles and fought for justice. In his own small way, he paved the way for black men and women to have high roles in the government. When President Obama was in Office, he appointed Sonia Sotomayor and who many consider to be the first Justice of Hispanic descent. As the first Justice of colored descent, he made it possible for the men and women to be nominated by different presidents and be a part of history. -
References
