Thurgood Marshall: What to know concerning the Supreme Court docket justice, civil rights icon

Thurgood Marshall, the great-grandson of a slave, became the first judge on the Black Supreme Court in 1967, but his struggle for civil rights began long before he rose to the highest court.

Marshall was born in Baltimore in 1908 and grew up during a time when Jim Crow’s laws ruled most of the country. His experience with segregation, combined with his early examination of the law, motivated him to become a lawyer and judge.

As punishment for a prank he played in high school, Marshall’s headmaster had him read the Constitution, which immediately intrigued him.

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After graduating from Lincoln University, a historically black college, he was rejected from the University of Maryland School of Law because of his race. He attended Howard University School of Law and received his first degree in his class.

Thurgood Marshall
(National Archives)

Vice President Kamala Harris cited Marshall as her inspiration for attending Howard University and was sworn in last month as Vice President for a Bible that belonged to Marshall.

Almost immediately after graduation, Marshall began breaking segregation by challenging the University of Maryland’s policy against accepting black applicants.

He won that case, Murray v. Pearson, 1935 and joined the NAACP staff a year later.

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Marshall won 29 of the 32 cases he tried in the Supreme Court, including Brown v. Topeka’s Board of Education (1954), a turning point for desegregation in the United States.

Thurgood Marshall with President Lyndon B. Johnson in the Oval Office
(National Archives)

President John F. Kennedy appointed Marshall to the US Appeals Court for the Second District in 1961, and President Lyndon Johnson appointed Johnson to the third-highest position in the Justice Department in 1965 as attorney general.

Two years later, President Johnson appointed Marshall to the Supreme Court.

President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court in 1967
(National Archives)

“I believe he deserves this appointment; he deserves the appointment. He is best qualified through education and very valuable service to the country,” President Johnson said on June 13, 1967.

“I think it’s the right thing, the right time, the right man and the right place.”

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Marshall retired from the Supreme Court in 1991 and died on January 24, 1993, leaving an enduring legacy when it comes to civil rights.