Thurgood Marshall: 20 Facts

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall was a giant of the civil rights movement, and his impressive achievements number in the dozens. Here are 20 things to know about about the first African American appointed to the Supreme Court.

1. Marshall was born July 2, 1908, in Baltimore, Maryland, the great-grandchild of slaves. His great-grandfather had been born in Africa, in the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo, before he was enslaved and taken to America.

2. Marshall’s given name was Thoroughgood. In second grade he shortened it because he didn’t like having to spell it.

3. After graduating high school near the top of his class, Marshall went to Lincoln University where he planned to study dentistry.

4. He was twice suspended for hazing and pranking other students.

5. Marshall's college classmates included Langston Hughes, Cab Calloway, and the future president of Ghana. (As far as we know, none of them fell victim to Marshall’s antics, though Hughes later would describe young Marshall as “rough and ready, loud and wrong.”)

6. Marshall buckled down and got serious after meeting the woman who would become his wife. While still in college, he married Vivian Burey, also a student at Lincoln.

7. The once-future dentist graduated with honors—with a degree in literature and philosophy, not dentistry.

8. The University of Maryland was his top choice for law school, but he didn’t apply because of the school’s segregation policy. Instead, he studied law at Howard University, where he graduated first in his class.

9. Marshall’s first big civil rights victory as an attorney, Murray v. Pearson, was against the school he couldn’t attend, the University of Maryland. He successfully challenged U. of Maryland's segregation policy, opening the door to equal education for generations of Maryland students.

Originally published January 2013