Thurgood Marshall

Thurgood Marshall was the head of NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund, also known as the Fund. Following this role he became the Solicitor General of the United States and the first black justice on the United States Supreme Court. Marshall became deeply involved in the cases of segregation that the Fund investigated and that one day would collectively be referred to as Brown v. Board of Education.

Marshall served as the lead attorney for the black families that filed the original lawsuits. Marshall had worked tirelessly for years in the fight against discrimination and racism. His vast experience made him acutely aware that Brown would met with derision, anger and resistance. The challenge was a huge one and the subject was one that went well beyond segregation in public schools. He knew that the segregation of schools could not be seen in a vacuum. Its ramifications...