Thurgood Marshall Timeline

(1908 - 1993)

Thurgood Marshall (1908–1993) was an American lawyer and civil rights activist who became the first African American to serve on the United States Supreme Court. As chief counsel for the NAACP, he argued the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which ended legal segregation in public schools, before being appointed to the Supreme Court by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1967. More Less

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Early Life and Education

Thurgood Marshall is born in Baltimore, Maryland

Jul 2, 1908

Thoroughgood "Thurgood" Marshall was born on July 2, 1908, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Norma and William Canfield Marshall. He would go on to become one of the most consequential American lawyers and civil rights figures of the twentieth century.

Image source: Thurgood Marshall

Thurgood Marshall is born in Baltimore, Maryland

Graduates from Colored High and Training School

1925

Marshall attended the Colored High and Training School, later known as Frederick Douglass High School, in Baltimore. He graduated with honors in 1925.

Image source: Frederick Douglass High School (Baltimore)

Marries Vivian 'Buster' Burey

Sep 4, 1929

Marshall wed Vivian "Buster" Burey on September 4, 1929, while he was a student at Lincoln University. They remained married until her death from cancer in 1955.

Graduates from Lincoln University and enters Howard Law School

1930

Marshall graduated with honors in 1930 with a bachelor's degree in American literature and philosophy. Unable to attend the all-white University of Maryland Law School because of his race, he applied to and was admitted to Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C.

Image source: Howard University School of Law

Graduates first in class at Howard Law and passes Maryland bar

Jun 1933 - Dec 31, 1933

Marshall graduated in June 1933 ranked first in his class at Howard University School of Law. Later that same year, he passed the Maryland bar examination, beginning his legal career.

Death of wife Vivian Burey Marshall

1955

Vivian "Buster" Burey Marshall died of cancer in 1955, ending a marriage of more than twenty-five years that had begun while Thurgood was a student at Lincoln University.

Walks out of Episcopal Church convention over segregation resolution

1964

An active member of the Episcopal Church, Marshall served as a delegate to its 1964 convention. He walked out after a resolution to recognize a right to disobey immoral segregation laws was voted down.

Image source: Episcopal Church (United States)

NAACP Legal Career

Sues University of Maryland on behalf of Donald Gaines Murray

1935

In 1935, Marshall and Charles Hamilton Houston brought suit against the University of Maryland on behalf of Donald Gaines Murray, an African American whose application to the university's law school had been rejected on account of his race. Rather than attacking the 'separate but equal' doctrine established by Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), they argued that Gaines had been denied an equal education.

Joins NAACP as assistant to special counsel Houston

1936

In 1936, Marshall joined Charles Hamilton Houston, who had been appointed as the NAACP's special counsel, in New York City, serving as his assistant. This marked the beginning of his long career fighting for civil rights through litigation.

Image source: NAACP

Joins Board of Directors of the ACLU

1939 - 1947

From 1939 to 1947, Marshall served as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union. Notably, unlike most of the board, he consistently opposed Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066, which placed Japanese Americans into concentration camps, and he charged that the prosecution of right-wing opponents of Roosevelt's foreign policy in the Sedition Trial of 1944 violated the First Amendment.

Image source: American Civil Liberties Union

Becomes NAACP special counsel

1939

Houston returned to Washington in 1938, and Marshall assumed his position as the NAACP's special counsel the following year. In this role, he led the organization's legal campaign against racial segregation and discrimination.

Wins campaigns against unequal salaries for African Americans

1939 - 1945

Marshall litigated a number of cases involving unequal salaries for African American teachers, winning nearly all of them. By 1945, he had ended salary disparities in major Southern cities and earned a reputation as a prominent figure in the civil rights movement.

Victory in Smith v. Allwright against white primaries

1944

Marshall won Smith v. Allwright (1944), in which the Court ruled the white primary unconstitutional. The victory was a significant milestone in the fight for African American voting rights in the South.

Image source: Smith v. Allwright

Resumes offensive against school segregation after 1945

1945

In the years after 1945, Marshall resumed his offensive against racial segregation in schools, laying the groundwork for the landmark legal battles of the following decade that would culminate in Brown v. Board of Education.

Wins Morgan v. Virginia against segregation on interstate buses

1946

Marshall successfully argued Morgan v. Virginia (1946), a case involving segregation on interstate buses. The Court's ruling struck down state laws enforcing segregated seating on interstate bus travel.

Argues companion case to Shelley v. Kraemer

1948

Marshall successfully argued a companion case to Shelley v. Kraemer (1948), involving racially restrictive covenants that barred African Americans from purchasing homes in certain neighborhoods. These victories undermined legally enforceable housing discrimination.

Sipuel v. Board of Regents orders Oklahoma to educate Ada Lois Sipuel

Jan 3, 1948

In Sipuel v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma (1948), the Supreme Court ordered that Oklahoma provide Ada Lois Sipuel with a legal education, although the justices declined to order that she be admitted to the state's law school for whites. Marshall was involved in the legal strategy behind this desegregation victory.

Image source: Sipuel v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma

Brings McLaurin v. Oklahoma and Sweatt v. Painter to the Court

1950

In 1950, Marshall brought two cases involving education to the Supreme Court: McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents and Sweatt v. Painter. These cases chipped away at segregation in graduate and professional education, setting the stage for the broader assault on school segregation.

Brown v. Board cases argued before the Supreme Court

Dec 1952

The five school desegregation cases eventually reached the Supreme Court and were argued in December 1952. Marshall argued that segregation itself violated constitutional principles, telling the justices it was time to make clear that separate-but-equal 'is not what our Constitution stands for.'

Court rules unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education

May 17, 1954

On May 17, 1954, after internal disagreements and a 1953 reargument, the Supreme Court handed down its unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education, overturning the 'separate but equal' doctrine and declaring school segregation unconstitutional. It was the crowning achievement of Marshall's litigation career.

Brown II orders desegregation 'with all deliberate speed'

1955

The Court in Brown ordered additional arguments on the proper remedy; in Brown II, decided in 1955, the justices ordered that desegregation proceed 'with all deliberate speed.' Their refusal to set a concrete deadline disappointed Marshall, who had argued for total integration to be completed by September 1956.

Cooper v. Aaron upholds Little Rock integration

1958

Marshall participated in Cooper v. Aaron (1958), involving Little Rock, Arkansas's attempt to delay school integration. The Court affirmed that states could not defy federal court orders mandating desegregation.

Helps draft Kenya's constitution at invitation of Tom Mboya

1960

Having gradually become, in the words of biographer Mark Tushnet, 'a civil rights leader more than a civil rights lawyer,' Marshall spent substantial time giving speeches and fundraising. In 1960, he accepted an invitation from Kenyan nationalist Tom Mboya to help draft Kenya's constitution.

Image source: Tom Mboya

Supreme Court Justice

Kennedy nominates Marshall to the Second Circuit

Sep 23, 1961

President John F. Kennedy, who wanted to demonstrate his commitment to African American interests without incurring enormous political costs, nominated Marshall on September 23, 1961, to be a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Image source: United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Faces harsh Senate subcommittee questioning over nomination

May 1962 - Aug 1962

A Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittee held several hearings between May and August 1962, where Marshall faced harsh questioning from Southern senators over what scholar Howard Ball described as 'marginal issues at best.'

Senate confirms Marshall to Second Circuit, 56–14

Sep 11, 1962

Following five hours of floor debate, the full Senate confirmed Marshall's appointment to the Second Circuit by a vote of 56–14 on September 11, 1962. As an appellate judge he wrote notable opinions, including rulings on double jeopardy protections and dissenting from convictions of civil rights protesters at the New York World's Fair.

Johnson nominates Marshall as Solicitor General; confirmed Aug 11, 1965

Aug 11, 1965

President Lyndon Johnson nominated Marshall as Solicitor General of the United States. Johnson pressured Southern senators not to obstruct confirmation, and a hearing before a Senate subcommittee lasted only fifteen minutes; the full Senate confirmed him on August 11, 1965. In this role, he defended the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in South Carolina v. Katzenbach and Katzenbach v. Morgan (both won in 1966), argued successfully that poll taxes were unlawful, and unsuccessfully maintained in a Miranda companion case that federal agents were not always required to inform arrestees of their rights.

Image source: Solicitor General of the United States

Johnson nominates Marshall to the Supreme Court

Jun 13, 1967

After Johnson nominated Ramsey Clark to be Attorney General in February 1967, opening the path, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Marshall in 1967 to replace retiring Justice Tom C. Clark on the Supreme Court, making him the first African American nominee to the nation's highest court.

Image source: Thurgood Marshall Supreme Court nomination

Marshall takes oath as first African American Supreme Court justice

Oct 2, 1967

Marshall took the constitutional oath of office on October 2, 1967, becoming the first African American to serve as a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He would remain on the Court for nearly twenty-four years, winning 29 of the 32 civil rights cases he argued before it over his career.

Stanley v. Georgia opinion protects private possession of materials

1969

In a 1969 opinion in Stanley v. Georgia, Marshall wrote for the Court in a decision affirming individuals' rights within their own homes, an early example of his work as a justice defending civil liberties.

Clarence Thomas replaces Marshall on the Supreme Court

1991

Upon Marshall's retirement in 1991, President George H. W. Bush nominated Clarence Thomas to fill his seat on the Supreme Court, marking a significant ideological shift on the bench.

Image source: Clarence Thomas

Marshall announces retirement from the Supreme Court

Jun 27, 1991

Although he did not wish to retire—frequently saying 'I was appointed to a life term, and I intend to serve it'—Marshall had been in ill health for years, and William Brennan's retirement in 1990 left him unhappy and isolated on the Court. On June 27, 1991, the 82-year-old justice announced he would retire.

Legacy and Honors

Depicted by Sidney Poitier in Separate but Equal

Apr 7, 1991

Sidney Poitier portrayed Thurgood Marshall in the 1991 television movie Separate but Equal, which dramatized the struggle leading to the Brown v. Board of Education decision and brought Marshall's story to a wide television audience.

Serves as visiting judge and receives ABA's highest award

Jan 1992 - Aug 1992

After retiring, Marshall served as a visiting judge on the Second Circuit for a week in January 1992. In August of that year, he received the American Bar Association's highest award, honoring his extraordinary contributions to law and justice.

Image source: American Bar Association

Posthumously awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom by Clinton

1993

Marshall posthumously received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton in 1993, one of the nation's highest civilian honors, recognizing his lifetime of service to equality and justice.

Image source: Presidential Medal of Freedom

Marshall dies of heart failure at Bethesda Naval Medical Center

Jan 24, 1993

Marshall's health continued to deteriorate after his retirement, and on January 24, 1993, at the Bethesda Naval Medical Center, he died of heart failure. Tushnet later called him 'probably the most important American lawyer of the twentieth century,' and a 1993 survey of legal scholars ranked him the seventeenth-greatest Supreme Court justice.

Survey ranks Marshall among ten greatest African-American leaders

1999

A 1999 survey of black political scientists listed Marshall as one of the ten greatest African-American leaders in history. Panelists described him as the 'greatest jurist of the twentieth century' and stated that he 'spearheaded the creation of the legal foundations of the civil rights movement.'

Courthouse renamed Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse

2001

New York's 590-foot-high courthouse, where Marshall had heard cases as an appellate judge on the Second Circuit, was renamed the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse in 2001. Buildings named for him also include the federal judicial center in Washington.

Image source: Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse

USPS issues commemorative Thurgood Marshall stamp

2003

In 2003, the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp in Marshall's honor, celebrating his legacy as a champion of civil rights and justice.

Baltimore airport renamed BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport

2005

In 2005, the state of Maryland renamed Baltimore's airport the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The University of Maryland's law library is also named in his honor—a fitting tribute given that its law school had once rejected him on account of his race.

Image source: Baltimore/Washington International Airport

Episcopal Diocese proposes naming Marshall a saint

2006

In 2006, the Episcopal Diocese of Washington proposed naming Marshall a saint and adding a feast day honoring him to the Episcopal liturgical calendar, reflecting his lifelong faith and moral leadership.

Image source: Episcopal Diocese of Washington

Laurence Fishburne stars in Broadway play Thurgood

2008

George Stevens Jr.'s Broadway play Thurgood depicted Marshall's life and career through Laurence Fishburne's acclaimed performance, bringing the judge's story to live audiences on Broadway.

Image source: Thurgood (play)

Feast day added to Lesser Feasts and Fasts on trial basis

2009

Marshall's feast day was included among the Episcopal Church's Lesser Feasts and Fasts on a trial basis in 2009, moving forward the effort to formally honor him within the church's liturgical calendar.

Chadwick Boseman portrays Marshall in film Marshall

Oct 13, 2017

Chadwick Boseman starred as Thurgood Marshall in the 2017 film Marshall, which dramatized one of the young attorney's early cases and introduced his legacy to a new generation.

Image source: Marshall (film)

Chadwick Boseman portrays Marshall in film Marshall

Marshall made permanent saint of the Episcopal Church

2018

In 2018, the Episcopal Church made Thurgood Marshall a permanent saint, cementing his place in the church's liturgical calendar alongside other honored figures of faith and justice.

Key Facts

Thurgood Marshall was born on July 2, 1908, in Baltimore, Maryland, and graduated first in his class from Howard University Law School in 1933.
As lead attorney for the NAACP, he won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the Supreme Court, including the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954 that outlawed school segregation.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed him to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and he later served as U.S. Solicitor General under President Johnson.
On October 2, 1967, Marshall was sworn in as the first African American Supreme Court Justice, nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
He served on the Supreme Court for 24 years, becoming known as a steadfast advocate for civil rights, affirmative action, and constitutional equality before retiring in 1991.

Source

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