The early life and times of thurgood marshall

He was descended from slaves on both sides of his family.

His father, William Marshall, instilled in him from youth an appreciation for the United States Constitution and the rule of law. After completing high school inThurgood followed his brother, William Aubrey Marshall, at the historically black Lincoln University in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

His classmates at Lincoln included a distinguished group of future Black leaders such as the poet and author Langston Hughes, the future President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, and musician Cab Calloway.

Just before graduation, he married his first wife, Vivian "Buster" Burey. Their twenty-five year marriage ended with her death from cancer in Inhe applied to the University of Maryland Law School, but was denied admission because he was Black.

This was an event that was to haunt him and direct his future professional life. Thurgood sought admission and was accepted at the Howard University Law School that same year and came under the immediate influence of the dynamic new dean, Charles Hamilton Houston, who instilled in all of his students the desire to apply the tenets of the Constitution to all Americans.

Paramount in Houston's outlook was the need to overturn the Supreme Court ruling, Plessy v. Ferguson which established the legal doctrine called, "separate but equal. Applauding Marshall's victory, author H. Mencken wrote that the decision of denial by the University of Maryland Law School was "brutal and absurd," and they should not object to the "presence among them of a self-respecting and ambitious young Afro-American well prepared for his studies by four years of hard work in a class A college.

During this period, Mr. Marshall was asked by the United Nations and the United Kingdom to help draft the constitutions of the emerging African nations of Ghana and what is now Tanzania.

It was felt that the person who so successfully fought for the rights of America's oppressed minority would be the perfect person to ensure the rights of the White citizens in these two former European colonies. After amassing an impressive record of Supreme Court challenges to state-sponsored discrimination, including the landmark Brown v.

Board decision inPresident John F. Kennedy appointed Thurgood Marshall to the U. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In this capacity, he wrote over decisions including support for the rights of immigrants, limiting government intrusion in cases involving illegal search and seizure, double jeopardy, and right to privacy issues.

Biographers Michael Davis and Hunter Clark note that, "none of his Marshall's 98 majority decisions was ever reversed by the Supreme Court.

Battle for the Marshall Islands

Before his subsequent nomination to the United States Supreme Court inThurgood Marshall won 14 of the 19 cases he argued before the Supreme Court on behalf of the government.

Until his retirement from the highest court in the land, Justice Marshall established a record for supporting the voiceless American. Having honed his skills since the case against the University of Maryland, he developed a profound sensitivity to injustice by way of the crucible of racial discrimination in this country.

As an Associate Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall leaves a legacy that expands that early sensitivity to include all of America's voiceless. Justice Marshall died on January 24, A Thurgood Marshall timeline: Marshall graduates with honors from Lincoln U.

Florida Successfully argues Smith v. Allwright, overthrowing the South's "white primary" Wins Shelley v.

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Kraemer, in which Supreme Court strikes down legality of racially restrictive covenants Wins Supreme Court victories in two graduate-school integration cases, Sweatt v.

Painter and McLaurin v. He reported that the general practice was one of "rigid segregation". Board of Education of Topeka, landmark case that demolishes legal basis for segregation in America Defends civil rights demonstrators, winning Supreme Circuit Court victory in Garner v.

Kennedy Appointed circuit judge, makes rulings, all of them later upheld by Supreme Court Appointed U. This biography is provided by Thurgood Marshall College.Jun 28,  · News about Thurgood Marshall, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Oct 12,  · Thurgood Marshall enjoys a prominent place in the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and for good reason. Marshall became the .

Watch video · “The measure of a country's greatness is its ability to retain compassion in times of crisis.” together, Thurgood Jr. and John Marshall. and Early Life. Thurgood Marshall’s father. “Marshall,” directed by Reginald Hudlin and based on an incident from the early life of Thurgood Marshall, the first black justice on the U.

S. Supreme Court, is the . Thurgood Marshall Biography, Life, Interesting Facts. Thurgood Marshall was born on July 2nd, Later in his life, he attended Howard University where he studied law.

He is to be remembered for fighting for African-Americans equality during his lifetime. Feb 03,  · Thurgood Marshall was a lawyer of heroic imagination, who led the team that brought school desegregation to the Supreme Court, winning an end to separate but equal.

In , he became the country.