Thurgood Marshall

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • The definitive biography of the great lawyer and Supreme Court justice, from the bestselling author of Eyes on the Prize “Magisterial . . . in Williams’ richly detailed portrait, Marshall emerges as a born rebel.”—Jack E. White, Time Thurgood Marshall was the twentieth century’s great architect of American race relations. His victory in the Brown v. Board of Education decision, the landmark Supreme Court case outlawing school segregation in the United States, would have made him a historic figure even if he had never been appointed as the first African-American to serve on the Supreme Court. He had a fierce will to change America, which led to clashes with Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcom X, and Robert F. Kennedy. Most surprising was Marshall’s secret and controversial relationship with the FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover. Based on eight years of research and interviews with over 150 sources, Thurgood Marshall is the sweeping and inspirational story of an enduring figure in American life who rose from the descendants of slaves to become an American hero.

This book provides a detailed examination of the life and legal legacy of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, including a discussion of the many legal cases in which he was involved. Thurgood Marshall was the first African American Supreme Court Justice. As a lawyer, he won the Supreme Court Case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that integrated all public schools in the United States. But Marshall's contributions extend far beyond significantly advancing the civil rights movement in this nation. Thurgood Marshall: A Biography discusses the life of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in a chronological fashion, and then discusses his legacy after death. Students at all grade levels—including undergraduate and graduate college students—as well as historians and general readers interested in African American history , civil rights, or the U.S. legal system will find this book insightful and useful.

Profiles the life and works of Thurgood Marshall, with his speeches, writings, arguments, opinions and reminiscences.

Forty of Justice Marshall's opinions ruling on such issues as civil rights, education, abortion, and capital punishment are introduced by a law professor who highlights the issues and illuminates the workings of an astute legal mind

Follows the life of the first African American to serve as a judge on the United States Supreme Court.

A brilliant picture book biography about Thurgood Marshall, who fought for equality during the Civil Rights Movement and served as the first Black justice on the Supreme Court, from Coretta Scott King Honor winners Kekla Magoon and Laura Freeman. Growing up in Baltimore, Thurgood Marshall could see that things weren’t fair. The laws said that Black and white people couldn’t use the same schools, parks, or water fountains. When Thurgood had to read the Constitution as punishment for a prank at school, his eyes were opened. It was clear to him that Jim Crow laws were wrong, and he was willing to do whatever it took to change them. His determination to make sure all Americans were treated equally led him to law school and then the NAACP, where he argued cases like Brown v. Board of Education in front of the Supreme Court. But to become a Justice on the highest court in the land, Thurgood had to make space for himself every step of the way. Readers will be inspired by Kekla Magoon’s concise text and Laura Freeman’s luminous illustrations, which bring Thurgood Marshall’s incredible legacy and achievements to life. * An SLJ Best Book of the Year * A Jane Addams Children's Book Award Finalist * A Texas Topaz Nonfiction selection * Wisconsin State Reading Association’s 2022 Picture This Recommendation List*

Like the movie Marshall, this book--the only biography of Thurgood Marshall to be endorsed by Marshall’s immediate family--focuses on his early civil rights struggles and successes before Brown v. Board of Education. Thurgood Marshall was the most important American lawyer of the twentieth century. He transformed the nation's legal landscape by challenging the racial segregation that had relegated millions to second-class citizenship. He won twenty-nine of thirty-three cases before the United States Supreme Court, was a federal appeals court judge, served as the US solicitor general, and, for twenty-four years, sat on the Supreme Court. Marshall is best known for achievements after he relocated to New York in 1936 to work for the NAACP. But Marshall's personality, attitudes, priorities, and work habits had crystallized during earlier years in Maryland. This work is the first close examination of the formative period in Marshall's life. As the author shows, Thurgood Marshall was a fascinating man of contrasts. He fought for racial justice without becoming a racist. Simultaneously idealistic and pragmatic, Marshall was a passionate advocate, yet he maintained friendly relationships with his opponents. Young Thurgood reveals how Marshall's distinctive traits were molded by events, people, and circumstances early in his life. Professor Gibson presents fresh information about Marshall's family, youth, and education. He describes Marshall's key mentors, the special impact of his high school and college competitive debating, his struggles to establish a law practice during the Great Depression, and his first civil rights cases. The author sheds new light on the NAACP and its first lawsuits in the campaign that led to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation decision. He also corrects some of the often-repeated stories about Marshall that are inaccurate. The only biography of Thurgood Marshall to be endorsed by Marshall’s immediate family, Young Thurgood is an exhaustively researched and engagingly written work that everyone interested in law, civil rights, American history, and biography will want to read.

The childhood of civil rights hero and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall comes to life in this engaging biography. Whenever Thurgood Marshall got into trouble at school, the principal would make him sit in the basement and read the US Constitution. By the time he was twelve, he had most of it memorized, and his interest in law had begun to take seed. In 1967 he was appointed to the US Supreme Court—the first African American to serve in that position.