How Did Thurgood Marshall Influence The Civil Rights Movement

With Abraham’s Emancipation of Proclamation 1863 and thirteenth amendment that ratified in 1865, many African American were set free from slavery. However, African American lived in the Southern United States still was in the system of slavery. This happened because the South passed Black Codes laws which was including vagrancy laws to control those freed slavery. In fact, slavery never disappear and they just changed their name and shape. This means African American once again was trapped in the system of the South called peonage. The conditions of peonage was as worse as slavery.

Thurgood Marshall was a great African American Civil Rights activist who changed a lot of lives in the United States. As a passionate lawyer and prominent Supreme Court justice he fought for Civil Rights and social justice in the courts and believed that racial integration is best for all schools. Very early in his professional life Marshall broke down racial barriers and overcame resistance despite the odds. He then became a role model of the disciplined leader, although he didn’t have the religious qualities or charisma as Martin Luther King. However, in terms of achievements, most of us would agree that he should be ranked next to Martin Luther King Jr. Thurgood was particularly famous for winning the Brown vs. Board of

Following the Civil War, America was in shambles. There were many groups with strong, conflicting ideas of how things should be. However, most groups had one idea in common: reducing the rights of African Americans as much as possible. Freed slaves had very little freedom under the law, were treated like a lesser species by those around them, and faced dangerous environments everywhere they went. Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation may have legally freed slaves, but African Americans were barely more than paid slaves.

Marshall was the head lawyer in the Brown vs. Board of Education case in which he won proving that separate education facilities were inherently unequal. Thurgood Marshall’s 24 years on the supreme court allowed him to produce many changes at the highest level. During the later portion of his supreme court years, the court became incredibly conservative and he became unable to accomplish very much. Martin Luther King Jr. successfully lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott and showed how much value and power blacks had even in racist southern communities. His many speeches also fueled many people to seek change as they realized the extent of the inequalities faced by African Americans in society.s King did not have any failures so to speak but he was unable to see the full extent of the changes he created because he was assassinated before they all played out. Malcolm X accomplished lots for the African American and Muslim communities but he too was assassinated when he was so young that it is impossible to know what else he could have done had he have lived a full long

Thurgood Marshall is the first African American who joined the supreme court justice. This action lead to various amounts of segregation being extinct to society. There are numerous of people that still believe racism is in the air. Racism is mostly caused from white citizens being mean to African Americans. Marshall’s lifespan changed society past, present, and probably future.

From the 1930s to the 1950s, African Americans were being severely persecuted and ostracized. The Jim Crow Laws allowed for legal segregation and continued control over blacks in the South. Those laws severely restricted the rights of the African American in the southern half of the United States and essentially continued to restrain them even though the United States Constitution forbid it. The North did not have such laws, but blacks still suffered. When African Americans migrated to the North, they were disillusioned by the fact that they were still not equal. The African Americans were instead delivered a subtler form of the discriminatory actions within the South. African Americans struggled for equality everywhere because of white

During the 20th century I have read many books, newspaper articles and seen news broadcasts on two of the most famous Afro American Pioneers: Martin Luther King and Thurgood Marshall. Martin Luther King fought all his life for equal rights for Afro Americans, but Thurgood Marshall help elevate the Afro American civil rights struggles through legal precedents and timely court decisions. Thomas G. Kraftenmaker a professor of Constitutional law at Georgetown University Law Center wrote, "When I think of great American lawyers I think of Thurgood Marshall, Abe Lincoln and Daniel Webster". In this century only Earl Warren approaches Marshall. Thurgood Marshall is certainly the most important lawyer of the 20th century.

"Thurgood Marshall was a rebel."(1) His method of activism differed from those of other civil rights leaders of the time. By addressing the courts and using his legal expertise, Marshall was able to have a more direct influence on society and the way government was treating blacks at the time. His use of the of the courts led to rulings that deemed the exclusion of blacks from primary elections, the use of racial profiling in terms of housing, the "separate but equal" mentality concerning working facilities and universities, and especially the segregation of elementary schools unconstitutional. With a resume like that it is no wonder he is still considered one of the most influential of the civil rights

Thurgood Marshall was significant as he was the first African-American to be appointed a position in the U.S Supreme Court, in 1967. His significance to civil rights is evident between 1947 and 1967, in one contemporary newspaper he was even referred to as “Mr Civil Rights”. In 1947-1961 Thurgood worked as the NAACP’s lawyer, where he argued his most famous cases – Brown v Topeka (1954) and Browder v Gayle (1956). Furthermore, the appointments by both, President John F. Kennedy and President Johnson, are significant in themselves because he was the first African-American to be appointed to the Supreme Court. Despite his influence on the civil rights movement, Thurgood took a lot of criticism which effected his attitudes towards other people involved with the civil rights movement and, in general.

Although the movie did not have any direct historical facts, it did show the reality of how Southerners viewed segregation. After the Civil War, Abraham, Lincoln, the United States 16th President, signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared slaves free in America. The newly freed slaves were granted the right to citizenship and the right to vote (History). In spite of the fact that former citizens, who were not enslaved, did not feel as though they were equivalent to former slaves, it led to a period known as the Racial Segregation Era. Legally, racial segregation lasted from 1870 to 1954. Racial segregation in America was a time when blacks and whites used separate amenities, facilities, and services that were equally as great as the others. Most of the time, black amenities, facilities, and services were not as bountiful as the white facilities and services. Whites acquired more privileges than blacks did. Most Southerners carried it on illegally, which sparked the Civil Rights Movement (NationalHumanitiesCenter). The Civil Rights Movement lasted from 1955 to 1965. During that time, many black activists and advocates for

After President Lincoln passed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, circumstances for blacks only slightly got better, but the attitudes of Southern white people never changed. African American men received citizenship and the right to vote, however Jim Crow laws, a series of harsh anti-black laws. The Northern states were not as cruel to black people as the Southern states. The Southern States were completely segregated, from the schools, offices, and churches, to the water fountains. However, many leaders changed the rights of the black community like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Their viewpoints on non violence as opposed to self-defense is an age-old argument that carried them both to their graves and still exists decades after the ending of the civil rights movement. Although both of these leaders had different viewpoints on how to achieve it, they both ultimately had the same goal: to bring equality to all races and desegregate the United

EFFECTUATING EDUCATIONAL EQUALITY: THURGOOD MARSHALL When presenting the chief influencers of the civil rights movement, many would immediately think of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with his peaceful protests and empowering speeches that urged people to be calm and rational. Also, Malcolm X could be seen as a chief influencer because he called black people to action and told them to stand up for their rights. On the other hand, the judicial branch and the court systems are not normally considered the prime source of change in the civil rights movement. However, the principle decisions that changed civil rights history forever and greatly influenced equality were made almost exclusively in courthouses.

From the beginning of his career in law to his service for the American people as Supreme Court Justice, Marshall has left numerous indelible revisions among the American people that increased equality and diminished the intensity of racism in the United States of

Thurgood Marshall’s education influenced his goals, actions and contributions; because of his education, he could pave a road to a successful law career. Thurgood Marshall’s principal made him memorize the entire U.S. Constitution as a form of punishment (“Thurgood Marshall”). His knowledge about the constitution made it possible for him to know about civil rights and led him to have an interest in becoming a constitutional lawyer. Marshall desegregated a movie theater at Lincoln University (“Thurgood Marshall: Justice”). This act of desegregation awakened his activism early on. At Lincoln, Marshall was able to maintain a high G.P.A. which allowed him to be accepted to Law school. Marshall was mentored by Charles H. Houston while in law school,

Furthermore, blacks themselves had a significant role in Emancipation. Blacks in both North and South recalled this war as “freedom war”, and for the first time children and women were included of runaway slaves. They left plantations and moved as a family to join the Union lines in order to be free, and they were placed in Contraband camps built by the military (P.412). Finally in March 1862, Congress forbidden the army from returning fugitive slaves to their owners, and in July the Second Confiscation act freed slaves of disloyal owners in Union-occupied territory and escaped slaves (P.413). When President Lincoln singed the Emancipation Proclamation, the order didn’t include all slaves. Although the Proclamation did not include loyal border