Thurgood Marshall is a very prominent historical figure in American history. He is a very well-regarded person in the black community of America due to his remarkable success story in the judicial history of America. Thurgood Marshall was an American lawyer who became the first Afro-American associate justice of the US Supreme Court in 1967, where he served for 24 years until 1991, two years before his death. Thurgood Marshall was born in Baltimore, the largest city in Maryland, USA in the year of 1908.
Thurgood had two mirages, one with Vivian Burey from 1929 to 1955 and the second with his secretary Cecilia Suyat after the death of his first wife. He had two sons named Thurgood Jr. and John Marshall. His father’s name was William Marshal whose grandfather was a slave and who used to work in an exclusive club as a steward. His mother’s name was Norma, a kindergarten teacher at a local school. Thurgood Marshall started to develop his interest in legislation at the beginning of his childhood as his father William had his favorite hobby of listening to the hearing of cases in the local courthouse and discussing them at the dinner table with his family. According to Thurgood, he and his father used to have jurisdiction arguments about everything during dinner time. Most of the time these arguments used to get the shape of violence. These debates created a nudge for law in Thurgood’s mind, and after years, he became a lawyer.
He studied law at Howard University and as a counselor to NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) he fought many cases for the equal rights of people of color. He gained much fame from the case of “Brown vs. the Board of Education” by which the Supreme Court of the USA ended racial discrimination in government schools (“Thurgood Marshall,” n.d.).
Thurgood Marshal got his prominent place in American history especially in the history of people of color for to following two reasons. He was a great opponent of the legislation of notorious Jim Crow segregation laws. These laws were there to suppress the legal rights of people of color in the southern states of America. Thurgood’s first great accomplishment was guiding the lawsuit against Jim Crow segregation as the legal counselor of the NAACP. Jim Crow laws were a great hindrance in front of the colored rights movement, and Thurgood played an important role in the destruction of those laws. Secondly, he became the first colored associate justice of the Supreme Court. In this role, he molded a unique philosophical theory of law, which he based on tolerance, attention to the detailed and practical considerations, keeping the formalities of law aside, and a solid disposition to dissent (“Thurgood Marshall – Black History,” n.d.).
His major accomplishments include serving as Supreme Court justice for 24 years, standing first in his law class in Howard School, serving as a chief counsel of NAACP, and becoming the first Afro-American solicitor general. He held the solicitor general position for just two years as he was appointed as Supreme Court associate justice afterward (wp-admin, 2016).
Thurgood Marshal had a very charming and outgoing personality. His personality traits are equality and justice for all, freedom of expression and conscience, respect and love for others, acceptance of authority, and considering himself accountable. His traits and accomplishments made him a living legend and a role model for society (cisturner, 18:24:41 UTC).
People of color have a special love for Thurgood Marshal due to his struggle and determination for the rights and justice of the people of color in the USA. He made the people of his society proud and made his mark in history.
References
cisturner. (18:24:41 UTC). Thurgood Marshall. Education. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/cisturner/thurgood-marshall-15978006
Thurgood Marshall. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/people/thurgood-marshall-9400241
Thurgood Marshall – Black History. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/thurgood-marshall
wp-admin. (2016, March 29). 5 Major Accomplishments of Thurgood Marshall. Retrieved from https://healthresearchfunding.org/5-major-accomplishments-of-thurgood-marshall/
