THURGOOD MARSHALL

THURGOOD MARSHALL, (1908 -1993) Judge, jurist, and first African American to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Justice Thurgood Marshall was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton in 1993.

Narration:

The first African American Supreme Court Justice. His name – Thurgood Marshall.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1908, Thurgood Marshall had an appreciation for law.

He graduated from Lincoln University in 1930 and hoped to attend the University of Maryland School of Law but was denied due to the school’s segregation policy. Marshall attended Howard University, but later, as a civil rights attorney, sued Maryland for their segregation policy and won.

Before becoming a judge, he was a lawyer with a very high success rate arguing before the Supreme Court. Marshall won 29 out of the 32 cases. His most famous was Brown vs. the Board of Education, which ended segregation in public schools.

President Johnson nominated Marshall to become the first African American Supreme Court Justice in 1967, and he served on the Court for 24 years.

Thurgood Marshall – A Great American

Credits: Editor: Stacy T. Holmes, ACE, Narrator: Steve Schy, Music: PartnersinRhyme.com, Digital Collection: Library of Congress, Copyright: CBN Communications