Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was an American civil rights lawyer and the first Black justice on the U.S.
Supreme Court, serving from 1967 to 1991.
As lead attorney for the NAACP, he argued *Brown v.
Board of Education*, the landmark 1954 case that struck down racial segregation in public schools.
His name is synonymous with the legal fight for civil rights: the Thurgood Marshall School of Law.
Landmark desegregation decision
- desegregationEnding enforced group separation
- segregationForced separation by group
- Jim CrowRacial separation laws
- racial justiceFairness regardless of ethnicity
integration · equal protection · Fourteenth Amendment · civil rights movement · voting rights · discrimination · separate but equal · legal strategy
First to forge ahead
- pioneerEarly explorer or settler
- groundbreakerInnovator, first to act
- iconPictorial screen symbol
- championTop competitor, or advocate
Howard University · Baltimore · Maryland · historical marker · biography · posthumous honors
Attorney who argues disputes
- advocatePublic cause supporter
- solicitor generalGovernment's chief appellate lawyer
- courtroomJudicial proceedings chamber
- legal argumentsReasoned advocacy in court
trial lawyer · civil rights attorney · constitutional lawyer · legal counsel
Courts invalidating unconstitutional acts
- dissentDisagreement with authority
- majority opinionPosition most hold
- landmark decisionLegally significant court judgment
- SCOTUSHighest federal court
appellate · constitutionality · oral argument · briefs · docket · precedent · jurisprudence · bench
Brown v. Board of Education
Landmark desegregation decision
- desegregationEnding enforced group separation
- segregationForced separation by group
- Jim CrowRacial separation laws
racial justice · integration · equal protection · Fourteenth Amendment · civil rights movement · voting rights · discrimination · separate but equal · legal strategy · school integration
trailblazer
First to forge ahead
- pioneerEarly explorer or settler
- groundbreakerInnovator, first to act
- iconPictorial screen symbol
champion · Howard University · Baltimore · Maryland · historical marker · biography · posthumous honors
litigator
Attorney who argues disputes
- advocatePublic cause supporter
- solicitor generalGovernment's chief appellate lawyer
- courtroomJudicial proceedings chamber
legal arguments · trial lawyer · civil rights attorney · constitutional lawyer · legal counsel
judicial review
Courts invalidating unconstitutional acts
- dissentDisagreement with authority
- majority opinionPosition most hold
- landmark decisionLegally significant court judgment
SCOTUS · appellate · constitutionality · oral argument · briefs · docket · precedent · jurisprudence · bench · confirmation hearing
- Legal FiguresRuth Bader Ginsburg, John Jay, Brett Kavanaugh, Blackstone
- MarylandersNancy Pelosi, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Babe Ruth, Michael Phelps
- Black HistoryMartin Luther King Jr., MLK, Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass
- Famous AmericansAbraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington Carver, Thomas Edison, Rosa Parks
- civil rightsequal protection, equal rights, Civil Rights Act, right to life, Voting Rights Act
- 1967Summer of Love, Six-Day War, Monterey Pop, Super Bowl I, Detroit riots
Thurgood MarshallClarence Thomas
Thurgood MarshallGeorge Wallace
Alabama segregationist politician
John C. Calhoun · segregationist · Jim Crow · white supremacist