Thurgood Marshall

Thurgood Marshall. Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Memorial Park. , Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908-January 24, 1993), the great-grandson of slaves, was the first African-American justice appointed to the United States Supreme Court. Where he served from 1967 to 1991. Earlier in his career, Marshall was a pioneering civil rights attorney who successfully argued the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education, a major step in the fight to desegregate American schools. The 1954 Brown decision is considered one of the most significant civil rights victories of the 20th century. , , Marshall opened his own law practice in Baltimore in 1933 at the age of 25. He became increasingly active in the local NAACP, recruiting new members for its Baltimore branch. Because he was well-educated, light-skinned, and dressed well, however, he sometimes found it difficult to find common ground with some African-Americans. Some felt Marshall had an appearance closer to that of a white man than to one of their own race. But Marshall’s down-to-earth personality and easy communication style helped to win over many new members. , , Marshall made significant gains in the battle for racial equality in the areas of both voting rights and education. He argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1944 (Smith v. Allwright), claiming that Texas Democratic Party rules unfairly denied blacks the right to vote in primaries. The Court agreed, ruling that all citizens, regardless of race, had the constitutional right to vote in primaries. , , In 1945, the NAACP made a momentous change in its strategy. Instead of working to enforce the “separate but equal” provision of the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision, the NAACP strove to achieve equality in a different way. Since the notion of separate but equal facilities had never truly been accomplished in the past (public services for blacks were uniformly inferior to those for whites), the only solution would be to make all public facilities and services open to all races. Overall, between 1940 and 1961, Marshall won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. In September 1961, Marshall was rewarded for his years of legal work when President John F. Kennedy appointed him a judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Although he hated to leave the NAACP, Marshall accepted the nomination. It took nearly a year for him to be approved by the Senate, many of whose members still resented his involvement in school desegregation. , , On June 13, 1967, President Johnson announced Thurgood Marshall as the nominee for Supreme Court Justice to fill the vacancy created by Justice Tom C. Clark’s departure. Some southern senators – notably Strom Thurmond – fought Marshall’s confirmation, but Marshall was confirmed and then sworn in Oct. 2, 1967. At the age of 59, Marshall became the first African-American to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Marshall took a liberal stance in most of the Court’s rulings. He consistently voted against any form of censorship and was strongly opposed to the death penalty. In the 1973 Roe v. Wade case, Marshal voted with the majority to uphold a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion. Marshall was also in favor of affirmative action. , , Marshall resisted the idea of retirement, but by the early 1990s, his health was failing and he had problems with both his hearing and vision. On June 27, 1991, Marshall submitted his letter of resignation to President George H.W. Bush. Marshall was replaced by Justice Clarence Thomas. Marshall died of heart failure on Jan. 24, 1993, at the age of 84: he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Marshall was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton in November 1993. ,