Biographical Chart: Thurgood Marshall

Lifespan:  July 2nd, 1908 – January 24th, 1993 

(​84​ years of age) 

Early Family Background and Created Family  - Born in Baltimore, MD.  

Structure  - Birth name: Thoroughgood  
- Mother: Norma Marshall (teacher) 
- Father: William Marshall (railroad porter) 
- His father was a slave.  
- Family would often have debates after and 
during dinner.  
- Attended Frederick Douglas High School in 
Baltimore.  
- Graduated a year early.  
- B-average/top third of his class. 
- Attended Lincoln University in PA. 
- Brother William Aubrey Marshall 
also attended here. 
- Received law degree from Howard 
University.   
- Married first wife Vivian Burey.  
- Later died of cancer in 1955.  
- Remarries Cecelia Suyat.  
- (1956) Thurgood Marshall Jr. is born. 
- (1959) John W. Marshall is born. 

Major Career/Professional Events and  - first major court case (1933) 

Accomplishments  - successfully sued University of Maryland  
- They didn’t admit a young African 
American named Donald Gaines 
Murray.  
- asked by United Nations and United 
Kingdom to help draft constitutions of 
Ghana and Tanzania.  
- (1954) Brown v. Board decision.  
- (1940) wins first of 29 Supreme Court 
victories 
- (1971) Roe v. Wade Case  
- (1987) establishes Thurgood Marshall 
Scholarship Fund 
- benefits Public Historically Black 
Colleges and Universities 
- (1991) retires as Associate Justice of U.S. 
Supreme Court 
Personal Life Themes/Belief  - Father instilled love of law and the 
COnstitution from a young age.  
- Father took him and his brother to 
different court cases.  
- Learned how to debate.  
- Said that his father always encouraged him 
to argue, challenge logic, and prove every 
statement made.  
- Oppressed minority.  
- Originally attended university t study 
medicine/wanted to become a dentist.  
- Charles Housten was a mentor 
- instilled in all of his students the 
“desire to apply the tenets of the 
Constitution to all Americans” 
- Wanted to overturn the 1898 
Supreme Court ruling, Plessy v. 
Ferguson (established legal doctrine 
"separate but equal.") 
- Applied to University of MD Law School, but 
was denied because he was black.  
- After this, made it his life goal to 
fight for AA rights in education.  
- In his work for the Court of Appeals for the 
Second Circuit, he advocated for:  
- support for the rights of immigrants 
- limiting government intrusion in 
cases involving illegal search and 
seizure 
- double jeopardy 
- right to privacy issues 

Awards and Recognition  - Chief Counsel for the National Association 

for the Advancement of Colored People 
(NAACP) 
- appointed by JFK to the U.S. Court of 
Appeals for the Second Circuit.  
- (1965) Appointed U.S. solicitor general by 
President Lyndon Johnson 
- (1967) first African American elevated to U.S. 
Supreme Court 
- August 30, 1967: confirmed as an Associate 
Justice by Senate 
- 96th person to hold the position 
 - first African American. 
- Great Hall of the United States Supreme 
Court Building 

Death and Aftermath  - Died of heart failure  

- National Naval Medical Center in 
Bethesda, Maryland 
- buried in Arlington National Cemetery 
- There are numerous memorials dedicated to 
him and his work: 
- Statue across from Maryland State 
House 
- Office building of the Federal Court 
system in Capitol Hill, Washington 
D.C. is named after him.  
- Texas Southern University names its 
law school after him  
- University of Maryland School of Law 
opened Thurgood Marshall Law 
Library. 
- Thurgood Marshall Center 
- Baltimore-Washington International 
Thurgood Marshall Airport 

Lasting Impact and Contributions  - Thurgood Marshall Award  

- given to the top student in civil rights 
at each of Puerto Rico's four law 
schools.  
- Apparently, he left all his personal papers 
and notes to the Library of Congress. 
- They are open to use by scholars, 
journalists, and the public.  
- It is insisted that this was Marshall's 
intent.  

Selected Quotations  “The measure of a country's greatness is its ability to retain 

compassion in times of crisis.” 
 
“Racism separates, but it never liberates. Hatred generates 
fear, and fear once given a foothold; binds, consumes and 
imprisons. Nothing is gained from prejudice. No one 
benefits from racism.”