I consider myself a revolutionary and have great respect for the individuals who paved the way for the freedoms we enjoy and sometimes take for granted today. During the 1950's when I was born, the battle against segregation and discrimination was being waged in the court system all the up way to the Supreme Court.
In many ways the tone and climate of the times influenced me to be a fighter for social justice and throughout my life I have always fought for the oppressed and those less fortunate. Mainly my causes have always been for women and children. Injustice is a serious issue for me and as a high school student I was involved in many protest for equal rights.
The United States Supreme Court is the highest court in the land where all cases and controversies come under review when it is a violation of the right to be protected under the Constitution of the United States. The Supreme Court is the custodial protector and voice of the Constitution with the authority to change legislation or presidential orders by ruling on a constitutional issue and creating a constitutional amendment or a new ruling.
Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall grew up in Baltimore and throughout his career fought for revolutionary causes that contributed significantly to the struggle for the civil rights of African Americans. Born on July 2, 1908, the grandson of a slave, he became the first African-American appointed to serve as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court.
As a young man he attended Lincoln University in Chester County, Pennsylvania with talented individuals who also made significant contributions to history. Thurgood Marshall's attended college along with famous classmates like Langston Hughes, Kwame Nkrumah and Cab Calloway.
While at Lincoln University, at that time Dean Charles Hamilton Houston further influenced the revolutionary spirit of Thurgood Marshall with a burning desire to maintain the integrity of the principles of the Constitution for all Americans not just for African Americans.
In 1930, at the age of 22 Thurgood Marshall experienced discrimination due to the color of his skin, when he applied and was denied admission to the University of Maryland Law School. Later he was accepted to the Howard University Law School that same year.
Dean Houston of Lincoln Univeristy is pivotal in challenging the "Separate but Equal" mandate in 1898 in which the Supreme Court ruling allowed legal segregation under the Constitution. As a result of the Plessy vs Ferguson case, the "separate but equal" - ruling meant that separate facilities for non whites, if equal, did not violate the Constitution.
In 1890 Louisiana law required railroads to provide "equal but separate" accommodations for the white, and colored, races. To protest the law, Homer Plessy allowed himself to be arrested because he refused to move from a seat reserved for whites and filed a lawsuit against the State of Louisiana for poor, not equal accomodations. The judge in this case determined that the law had been violated by Plessy's protest, rejected his case and the case ended up in the Supreme Court.
Legal discrimination under the "separate but equal" doctrine prevented free Blacks from gaining access to equal opportunities they were entitled to as citizens. Racial division between the North and South was fueled by the self-interest of segregationist while Blacks were treated as second class citizens not worth receiving access to the same education whites received through the public school system.
At the age of 27 Thurgood Marshall, represented Donald Gaines Murray by arguing that Murray was denied "separate but equal" treatment because he was denied access the University of Maryland law school. Thurgood Marshall was successful in integrating the University of Maryland as his first major case by suing the university to admit Mr. Murray. The Court of Appeals Judge Carroll T. Bond ruled that, in order to accommodate Plessy v. Ferguson, Murray could attend the institution but he had to remain separated from white students.
Throughout his life Thurgood Marshall fought for the oppressed in the United States many credit him as igniting the Civil Rights Movement by winning the case of Brown vs the Topeka Board of Education in the 1950's. His victory overturned the "separate but equal" law and set a precedent as a major turning point to desegregate schools in South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. The Supreme Court first heard the case on December 9, 1952, but failed to reach a decision until May 17, 1954.
The Supreme Court case Brown v. Topeka Board of Education enforced the 14th Amendment which guarantees all citizens the right to equal protection of the laws, but it did not put a stop to segregation in other public areas of life for non white people. Public places like restaurants and restrooms did not allow Blacks to use the same facilities as whites. The time line was not set for the desegregation of public schools. Discrimination continued in many areas inside of public schools even though the ruling established that deliberately committing or even tolerating segregation as unconstitutional.
I am thankful for the contributions of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall because without his courage to fight for the rights of others, I would not have the opportunity to write this article. Things would be definitely be different for me as a participant in the public education system.
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Contributor's Note
I wrote this intel due the 100 year anniversary of Thurgood Marshall. He has impacted my life significantly as a true revolutionary.
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