Quick Knowledge Flashcards
Who was Thurgood Marshall?
Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was a trailblazing American civil rights lawyer and jurist, serving as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 to 1991. As the first African-American justice on the Supreme Court, Marshall played a pivotal role in the fight against racial segregation in American public schools. Prior to his judicial career, he was a dedicated attorney leading the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, where he won 29 of the 32 civil rights cases he argued before the Supreme Court. His significant achievements include the landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared school segregation unconstitutional. President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Marshall to the Supreme Court in 1967. A staunch liberal, he often dissented as the Court shifted towards conservatism. Marshall’s pragmatic jurisprudence drew on real-world experience, evident in his contributions like the “sliding-scale” approach to the Equal Protection Clause. He retired in 1991 and passed away in 1993, leaving a lasting legacy in the pursuit of justice and equality.
