Thurgood Marshall: Civil Rights Activist

Ariana Cameron
December 16, 2014
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Ms. Pitcher
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was a civil rights activist that was never going to give up. He worked his way up the ladder to become what he was and earned the praise he received throughout his life. He learned at a young age that discrimination is real and knew he wasn’t going to take it from anyone. He wasn’t going to allow people to degrade him because of the color of his skin or because of where he came from or because the color of his parents skin. He experienced events that made him decide he wanted to fight for equality of everyone. Marshall knew it wasn’t going to be easy but he was going to try his best to do his best. Thurgood Marshall was one of the smaller civil rights
The Civil Rights Acts guaranteed African Americans access to public facilities. Even with this act the commitment of equality was weakening; referring to maintaining integrated schools was taken out of the act before its passage. Even with the enforcement of weakened laws the Southern state legislature reacted by establishing a legal system that separated the races in every aspect of daily life. The result was a string of public policies and practices where a racial castle system emerged in the South. The new policies and practices were called the “Jim Crow laws”. These laws regulated colored people to second-class status and denied them public education and transportation institutions. The Jim Crow laws required separation between races in every facet of life including transportation, cemeteries, neighborhoods, restraints, theaters, hospitals, schools and public parks. Inter-racial marriages were also not allowed (Jim Crow Laws n.p.). The National Association of the Advanced Colored People in fighting Jim Crow laws prior to World War 2. The turning point was when the Supreme Court struck down public school segregation in Brown v. Topeka Board of Education. The Brown v. Topeka Board of Education was the case that ended legal separation of black and white children in public school. This era of Jim Crow laws came to an end in the 1960s with landmark federal laws being
Martin Luther king Jr. and other activist would now have the law because of Marshall’s efforts. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 would outlaw and form of private discrimination because of the climate Marshall and his colleagues bestowed. President John F. Kennedy appointed Marshall to U.S. Court of Appeals for the second circuit. The Court of Appeals is the second upmost level of federal court and Marshall was the second African American to be employed as a federal appellate judge. Not one of Marshalls 98 opinions were overturned as a Circuit Court judge.
President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Marshall solicitor general of the United States in 1965. As solicitor general he was responsible for arguing the government’s positions in front of the Supreme Court. His first case was the killing of three civil rights activists, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney. All three had been registered voters and were killed in 1964 in Mississippi by racist collaborators. The persuasion of Marshall to the Supreme Court to order a trial is the result of the state courts refusing to convict the