Thurgood Marshall was the first African American to be appointed to the Supreme Court. He was born in 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland.  He graduated from Lincoln University and studied law at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Thurgood Marshall was not only a famous and influential justice of the Supreme Court, he was a famous attorney as well.  He first began to practice law in 1933.  He served as chief counsel for the NAACP from 1938-1950.  He also served as director and chief counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.  He was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP in 1946.

In 1954, Thurgood Marshall argued one of the most famous cases ever presented to the Supreme Court, Brown vs. Board of Education.  Marshall argued on behalf of Oliver Brown.  Oliver Brown was a black railroad worker who sued the Topeka, Kansas Board of Education for not allowing his daughter, Linda Brown, to attend Sumner Elementary School.  Sumner Elementary was an all white elementary school which was close to the Brown's home.  As a result of Marshall's arguments, the Supreme Court reversed itself from an earlier decision it had made in 1896 in the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson.  In that case the Supreme Court ruled that facilities for blacks and whites could be "separate but equal."  The court stated that separate is inherently unequal and that segregated schools deprive minorities of equal educational opportunities. The landmark decision made by the Supreme Court lead to the desegregation of schools throughout the United States as well as the desegregation of other institutions.

Marshall was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1961.  He then was appointed Solicitor General of the United States in 1965.  President Lyndon Johnson finally appointed Marshall to the Supreme Court in 1967, where he served until his retirement in 1991.  Marshall was known for his liberal positions on capital punishment, free speech, school desegregation, and affirmative action.  Thurgood Marshall died in 1993, only a couple of years after his retirement.