Thurgood Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1908, a great grandson of a slave. He graduated as valedictorian of his class at Howard University Law School in 1933. He then went on to represent civil rights activists and joining counsel for the NAACP, winning 29 of the 32 major cases he worked for this organization. In 1940 he took the position of chief counsel for NAACP.

One of his most famous cases, Brown vs. the Board of Education helped declare segregation in school unconstitutional. Also, in his lifetime, he was nominated Marshall to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit by JFK in 1961. Marshall was named U.S. solicitor general in 1965 and nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967.

Known as one of the most influential men in the civil rights movement, Marshall helped the Little Rock 9 make a name for not only themselves, but for the city of Little Rock, Arkansas and all the people who fought for integration.

By: Bobbi

http://www.coe.uh.edu/untold_stories/biographies/marshall_bio.html