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Marshall, Thurgoodlocked

(1908–1993)

Marshall, Thurgoodlocked

(1908–1993)
  • Karen D. StoutKaren D. StoutGraduate School of Social Work, University of Houston

Summary

Thurgood Marshall (1908–1993), the first African American U.S. Supreme Court Justice, is credited with ending American apartheid. He fought for the civil and equal rights for ethnic minorities, women's rights, prisoners' rights, and was opposed to the death penalty.

Subjects

  • Biographies

Thurgood Marshall, the first African American U.S. Supreme Court Justice, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and is credited with ending American apartheid. Marshall was the great grandson of a former slave and of a Union soldier and was the son of a Pullman porter and schoolteacher. Marshall graduated from Howard University Law School after having been denied admission to the University of Maryland's law school because of his race.

Beginning in 1936, Marshall, as legal counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, investigated lynchings, staged boycotts, won salary equalization for African American teachers, and obtained voting rights for African American southerners (Smith v. Allwright). Marshall also successfully challenged the legality of racially restrictive housing covenants (Shelly v. Kraerner). In 1954, Marshall successfully argued Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, striking down segregation in public education in the United States.

President Kennedy appointed Marshall to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1961. In 1965President Johnson named Marshall the U.S. solicitor general. Marshall was the first African American to hold the post of solicitor general and in 1967 became the first African American Supreme Court Justice, a post he held until 1991. Although Marshall's career as an attorney included an array of “firsts,” he was best known as a jurist who fought for the rights of the oppressed, civil and equal rights for ethnic minorities, women's rights, prisoners’ rights, and rights of poor people. Marshall was well known for his opposition to the death penalty, believing it to be cruel and unusual punishment.

In 1992 NASW honored Justice Marshall with the first National Social Justice Award. NASW President Barbara White noted that NASW honors Marshall “because we recognize there are few individuals who can look back on a lifetime of work and know that the world is a different place because of their wisdom and courage.”