1908-1993

[Inscription in dark circle on plaza deck.]

Thurgood Marshall's first major victory in his life-long struggle for equality under the law for all Americans took place in the Maryland Court of Appeals which then stood near this memorial. In 1935, Marshall successfully argued for the admission of Donald Murray to the University of Maryland School of Law. This was the first step on the road to Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in the United States Supreme Court in 1954 overturned the doctrine of "separate but equal" established by Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). Thurgood Marshall fought to achieve the promise held within the quotes above the entrance to the United States Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. "Equal Justice Under Law."

[Timeline carved within circle on plaza deck.]

1908

Born in Baltimore, Maryland.

1925

Graduated from Frederick Douglass Senior High School, Baltimore, MD.

1930

Graduated with honors from Lincoln University, Lincoln, PA.

1933

Graduated from Howard University School of Law, Washington, D.C.

1934

Begins work for the Baltimore Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

1935 - 1936

Won Board of Regents of the University of Maryland v. Donald Murray.

1940

Appointed Director Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.

1954

Won Brown et al v. Board of Education of Topeka et al.

1961 - 1965

Served as Judge of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals,

appointed by President John F. Kennedy.

1965 - 1967

Served as the United States Solicitor General.

1967 - 1991

Served as the first African American Justice on the United States Supreme Court,

appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Marker can be reached from State Circle.

Courtesy hmdb.org

Credits and Sources: