Thurgood Marshall

Thurgood Marshall

Thurgood Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 2, 1908. He was born into a middle class family. His original name was Thoroughgood but changed it to Thurgood in second grade because it was too hard to spell. William Marshall, his dad, taught him to appreciate the Constitution of the United States and the rule of law.

Thurgood Marshall was a very smart person. He graduated from Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore in 1925. He started college at Lincoln University until 1930, and then applied for the University of Maryland School of Law. The school told him they would not accept him because of their segregation policy. Instead, he applied to the Howard University of Law and was accepted. Thurgood graduated as the top student in his class.

After graduating college, Thurgood Marshall began working with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He was also starting work as a lawyer. His first case was in 1935 and was against the University of Maryland School of Law. Thurgood won the case, and forced the school to integrate so black people could attend too. John F. Kennedy recognized Thurgood Marshall for winning 29 of his 32 cases.

On June 13, 1967, Thurgood Marshall was appointed to the Supreme Court. The Senate vote to appoint him was 69-11. He was the first black person to ever be part of the Supreme Court. Thurgood Marshall was most known for his civil rights and criminal procedure cases. He served on the Supreme Court for 24 years.

Thurgood Marshall died of heart failure on January 24, 1993 at the age of 84. Marshall is buried in the Arlington National Cemetery. There are numerous memorials to recognize Thurgood Marshall. A few of the bigger ones are the statue at the office building of the Maryland State House. Texas Southern University renaming their school after him, and the University of Maryland School of Law opened a new library called the Thurgood Marshall Law Library.

I believe Thurgood Marshall was a big help in the fight for African-Americans achieving justice. He won cases that involved major schools to accept black students. He also was a part of Supreme Court and showed the other members that white on black crimes deserved appropriate punishments. This resulted in a lot of whites stopping their violence as they feared the consequences. Lastly, he was part of the NAACP and spread awareness around the country of how badly black people were being treated. Thurgood Marshall had a major impact on African-American's achieving justice.