Thurgood Marshall: Segregation In The United States

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African Americans had won their freedom out of slavery after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." and no longer were they seen as possessions of the slave-owners. However, during the 1900’s there were still problems that arose, which made the life for African American people to struggle and be discriminated. The term for this was called segregation. African Americans were forced to attend separate schools and other facilities. During that time, white males controlled the workforce and many African Americans could barely find any well-paying jobs and were separated and discriminated all over. But at …show more content…

Thurgood Marshall was someone of importance in American history, someone who left behind a legacy that will always be remembered. He was a young man from Baltimore, Maryland, who was highly interested in law and decided to be a lawyer. His dream school that he wanted to attend was the University of Maryland. However, during that time they were still in segregation and he knew that he would not get into the school because of the color of his skin. So he decided to go to Howard University, which is a notable HBCU and he graduated at the top of his class and also went to take his bar exam to become a lawyer, and he passed as well. During the first few years of him being a lawyer, he worked for National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as their chief counsel. One of his first significant court cases that he did was called Murray vs. Pearson. A young man named Donald Murray like Thurgood Marshall was rejected entrance to the University of Maryland Law School because he was black. Thurgood Marshall decided to challenge this case and he successfully challenged U. of Maryland's segregation policy. He won the case which in result led to opening the doors to equal education for generations of Maryland …show more content…

One historically case that changed history was Brown vs. Board of Education. When the case went to the Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall argued that school segregation was a violation of individual rights under the 14th Amendment and says that it was unconstitutional with the previous case that rules the separate but equal in Plessy vs. Ferguson. On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court delivered the unanimous ruling and that they declared that “separate but equal” was unconstitutional and Thurgood Marshall won the case and changed American history and that there was no more segregation in schools and other facilities as well. Through his works and everything he fought for, in June 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court, and said this about Thurgood Marshall when appointing him; “I believe it is the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the right place.” and he became the first African-American to serve on the Supreme Court Justice. Thurgood Marshall During his 24 years on the Supreme Court, always challenged discrimination based on race or sex, he also opposed the death penalty and supported the rights of criminal defendants. He also defended affirmative action and women’s right to abortion as

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