Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993) was a prominent American civil rights lawyer and jurist. He is most famous for his landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), which successfully challenged the constitutionality of racial segregation in public schools. Marshall argued that separate schools for black and white students were inherently unequal and violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The unanimous decision of the Court in Brown v. Board of Education was a major victory for the civil rights movement and paved the way for the desegregation of public schools and other public facilities.
In addition to his legal work, Marshall also served as a lawyer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1930 to 1967, and as a U.S. Court of Appeals judge for the Second Circuit from 1961 to 1965. In 1967, he was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to the Supreme Court, becoming the first African American justice in its history. He served on the Court until his retirement in 1991.
Marshall's legacy is one of a tireless advocate for civil rights and social justice. He dedicated his life to fighting for the equal rights of all Americans, and his contributions to the civil rights movement are immeasurable.
