Thurgood Marshall - Read and Respond

Marshall began learning about the law from his parents at a young age. His father enjoyed going downtown to listen to court cases in his spare time. When he came home, he and his sons would discuss and debate the lawyers’ arguments.

As a child, Marshall was aware of the injustices that affected him and other African-Americans. He was forced to read and recite portions of the Constitution as punishment for misbehaving in class. By the time he graduated in 1926, he had memorized the entire document.

Question: Based on the passage, Marshall's father most likely...

• Worked as a civil rights activist

• Passed his appreciation for law onto Thurgood

• Discouraged Thurgood from joining the debate team

After high school, Marshall followed his older brother to Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. He was very successful in college. But when he applied to the University of Maryland School of Law, he was rejected because he was African-American. So Marshall decided to attend law school at Howard University, a historically black college in Washington, DC. There he was taken under the wing of Charles H. Houston, a new dean who encouraged his students to use the law to fight for racial justice. Marshall graduated in 1933 with highest honors.

Question: After he was rejected from the University of Maryland, Marshall decided to...

• Pursue a career in teaching

• Attend law school at a historically black college

• Sue the university for discrimination

In 1951, Marshall took on Brown v. Board of Education. This was the biggest case of his career as a lawyer. The NAACP filed a lawsuit on behalf of African-American parents in Topeka, Kansas. Their children were forced to attend segregated schools. The all-black schools were rundown. Black students weren’t getting an education that was as good as what white students received. In addition, going to separate, subpar schools made black children feel bad about themselves. In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, and Marshall won the case.

Brown v. Board of Education was a very influential case. It dismantled the concept of “separate but equal.” It was later used to take down other types of institutional racism, such as housing discrimination and voting restrictions. It also made Marshall one of the most prominent faces of civil rights advocacy.

Question: According to the passage, Brown v. Board of Education was important because...

• It helped dismantle other forms of segregation

• It removed the concept of "separate but equal"

• It forced public schools to desegregate

• All of the above

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Marshall to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. This is one of the most powerful courts in the country. Marshall served for four years as a circuit court judge. He made more than 100 court decisions. None of them were overturned by the Supreme Court.

Marshall became the US solicitor general in 1965. The solicitor general is the lawyer who argues before the Supreme Court on behalf of the government. Marshall was the first African-American to ever serve in this role. He won an impressive 14 of his 19 cases as solicitor general. Just two years later, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Marshall to the Supreme Court. He was sworn in on October 2, 1967.

Question: Which of the following represents the correct order of events in Thurgood Marshall's life?

• 1. Became US Solicitor General

  2. Nominated to the Supreme Court

  3. Appointed to the US Court of Appeals by President Kennedy

• 1. Appointed to the US Court of Appeals by President Kennedy

  2. Became US Solicitor General

  3. Nominated to the Supreme Court

• 1. Nominated to the Supreme Court

  2. Became US Solicitor General

  3. Appointed to the US Court of Appeals by President Kennedy

Marshall fit right in on the progressive Supreme Court. He believed that the Constitution is a living document that should be interpreted in a modern context. He supported rulings that upheld individual liberties and advanced social justice. He protected students’ right to free speech in Tinker v. Des Moines (1969), and was part of the majority that temporarily outlawed the death penalty in Furman v. Georgia (1972).

Marshall served on the Supreme Court for 24 years. The Court became much more conservative during this time. Marshall was eventually the only progressive justice on the bench. Still, he was outspoken about his beliefs and wrote many strong dissents. He retired from the Supreme Court in 1991 and died two years later at the age of 84.

Question: Based on the passage, which statement would Marshall most likely agree with?

• Individual rights and freedoms are not important.

• The Constitution is not important.

• It is important to stand up for what you believe in, even if it's not popular.