Thurgood Marshall

Lawyer, Freedom Fighter, Supreme Court Judge

Born July 2, 1908, in Baltimore, Thurgood Marshall was one of the greatest fighters of civil rights in America. He was the son of a dining room steward and teacher. He achieved national recognition for his civil rights achievements as a lawyer and later as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Marshall attended public schools in Baltimore. He was the product of Frederick Douglass High School. Later, Marshall attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania to study dentistry. Marshall graduated from Howard University Law School in Washington, D.C. in 1933 at the top of his class.

Marshall returned to his native Baltimore to practice law. Most of his clients were people who made a modest living. many could not afford the services he rendered. however, personal circumstances did not stop him from handling the problems that were presented to him. Marshall handled numerous cases involving legal disputes, police brutality, evictions, and other civil rights issues. Due to his untiring dedication and skilful court presentations, he became known as the "little man's lawyer."

In 1934, Marshall was appointed as an assistant to special counsel Charles Hamilton Houston, who worked for the Baltimore branch of the NAACP. In 1938, Marshall became a special assistant to the NAACP. Marshall represented clients with civil rights cases over the United States. He won thirty-two out of thirty-five cases taken to the Supreme Court. His reputation spread throughout the United States for his outstanding work. Marshall was known as the greatest constitutional lawyer of this country when he served as chief attorney for the NAACP.

Marshall was nominated by President John F. Kennedy for appointment to the Second Supreme Court of Appeals (New York, Connecticut, and Vermont) September 23, 1961. The appointment was confirmed by the Senate. President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Judge Marshall to become an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. On August 30, 1967, Marshall was confirmed by the Senate to be the ninety-sixth Supreme Court Justice. He was the first African American to serve as a Justice of the Supreme court.

Justice Marshall received many awards and citations for his outstanding contributions to the field of civil rights until his death in 1993.

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Mary L. Dudziak. Exporting American Dreams: Thurgood Marshall's African Journey (2008)

Marshall, LBJ and the Court LBJ Broke New Ground; Will the Next President Have a Similar Opportunity? When he tap Thurgood Marshall for the U.S. Supreme Court in the summer of 1967, Lyndon Baines Johnson made history: The great-grandson of an African American slave was nominated to join the nation’s highest court. “Lyndon Johnson was tremendously proud of the nomination,” says USC legal scholar Mary L. Dudziak. “Johnson was focused on what the achievement would say to all the African American children in the land, what they could aspire to in their own lives.” After the Marshall appointment, it would be another 14 years before another appointment of equal symbolism occurred: the nomination of Sandra Day O’Connor by Ronald Reagan.

In the past two decades, the nomination and confirmation process has been more about the politics of right vs. left than about reflecting the new diversity of America, says Dudziak, who sees the upcoming centennial of Marshall’s birth on July 2 as an opportunity to reflect on the politics and symbolism of Supreme Court nominees.

Dudziak’s new book, Exporting American Dreams: Thurgood Marshall's African Journey, traces Marshall’s progression from civil rights attorney to a legal figure of international prominence who, among other achievements, crafted a draft bill of rights for Kenya, which in the early 1960s was transitioning into statehood after years of British colonial rule.

Will the next president of the United States have a chance to make history with a Supreme Court nomination? Dudziak says an obvious opportunity — the appointment of an openly-gay jurist to the court — could become a political battleground, as Marshall’s nomination was. But with more support for full inclusion of gays and lesbians, this milestone will eventually be achieved, she says.

Dudziak believes there is an opportunity for the next president to speak directly to the American public through the nomination process. “Either candidate might break barriers and make history with a court appointment,” she concludes.

Source: Exporting American Dreams Blog

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Mary L. Dudziak. Exporting American Dreams: Thurgood Marshall's African Journey (2008)

Reviews "Effectively sketches those events in the civil rights movement... Dudziak's clarity and careful documentation make her book accessible to the general reader and a valuable tool for African and African-American studies."—Publishers Weekly "Dudziak brings out with impressive clarity how Thurgood Marshall's greatness stemmed from his Whitman-esque ability to contain multitudes: committed to the rule of law, he could chide Kenya's new leadership for departing even slightly from it, work for justice in segregated America, and sustain a relationship with young civil rights activists taking direct and 'illegal' action in the early 1960s." —Mark Tushnet, Harvard Law School and author of Making Civil Rights Law: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court, 1956-1961

"This book on a less-studied part of Marshall's career is recommended for libraries collecting in law, legal processes, and African and African American history."—Library Journal

"In this gem of a book, Mary Dudziak brings vividly to life the important but little known history of Thurgood Marshall's intense involvement with Kenya during its journey toward independence in the 1960s. This great champion of the American civil rights struggle never relinquished his hope that democracy and equality would one day flourish in Kenya, even as he became painfully aware of the obstacles that stood in the path of this dream. A powerful and poignant story, beautifully told."—Gary Gerstle, Vanderbilt University and author of American Crucible: Race and Nation in the Twentieth Century

"By dint of creative and exhaustive research, Mary Dudziak has written an excellent book about a facet of Thurgood Marshall's career that has never before received substantial attention. Who knew that 'Mr. Civil Rights' contributed significantly to African as well as American legal systems. All students of this great man's life owe a major debt to Professor Dudziak's labors."—Randall Kennedy, Harvard Law School and author of Sellout: The Politics of Racial Betrayal

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update 24 July 2008