The Making of America: Thurgood Marshall

The Making of America: Thurgood Marshall — page 7 — On June 13 1967 President Lyndon B Johnson who hailed from Texas and had long been an advocate of racial equality under the law called a press conference He stood in the White House Rose Garden next to Thurgood Marshall and announced that he was nominating Marshall to the United States Supreme Court I believe he has already earned his place in history President President Johnson told the assembled crowd but I think it will be greatly enhanced by his service on the Court I believe he earned that appointment he is the best qualified by training and by very valuable service to the country THURGOOD MARSHALL

The Making of America: Thurgood Marshall — page 8 — The word spread like a wildfire Letters poured in to the president and members of Congress Some people were thrilled Others were horrified Please sir no N on the Supreme Court bench came a typical letter with looting and burning and riots all over the country so many feel as we do Senator Strom Thurmond from South Carolina was determined determined to block Marshall’s nomination He was the author of the Southern Manifesto a 1956 document denouncing efforts by the federal government to end segregation Thurmond joined with three other southern senators John McClellan from Arkansas Sam Ervin from North Carolina and James Eastland of Mississippi Mississippi All four were on the Senate Judiciary Committee so they would have a chance to question Thurgood Marshall in an open hearing All four resented what Thurgood Marshall had done in their states as an activist lawyer Senator Thurmond told his staff to start digging He wanted dirt he could use to prevent Marshall from taking a place on the United States Supreme Court His research team plunged into their task Hearings would begin within a few weeks They didn’t have much time to come up with a plan President Johnson nominates Thurgood Marshall to be an associate Supreme Court Justice 5 A Public Enemy

The Making of America: Thurgood Marshall — page 9 — 1 Way Up South It was taken for granted that we had to make something of ourselves Not much was said about it it was just in the atmosphere of the home Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall loved telling stories He particularly enjoyed telling about his great-great-grandfather on his mother’s side a notorious rebel whom Thurgood proudly proclaimed was the baddest N in the whole state of Maryland As one version of the story went his master captured him in Africa and brought him to work at his Eastern Shore plantation According to family legend he was from Sierra Leone But we all know Thurgood liked to say that he really came from the toughest part of the Congo 6

The Making of America: Thurgood Marshall — page 10 — One day as Thurgood liked to tell the story the exasperated exasperated master said Now look you are so ornery and mean to white people that you’ll never be a good servant and I in good conscience can’t sell you to another white person So his master offered him a deal If you agree to leave the county and the state I’ll turn you loose and give you your freedom I’m not going anyplace said the ornery slave His master gave him his freedom anyway He married a white woman and settled down as a free man on a farm not far from his old master Eventually his descendants made their way to Baltimore I’m proud of a guy like that Thurgood said Baltimore in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries centuries was an exceptional place In the North there were so few African Americans that integration was impossible Further Further south the very idea of integration was so repugnant that white southerners fought tooth and nail to prevent it Throughout Throughout the nation African Americans largely remained in poverty and cut off from opportunities available to whites Baltimore was different Maryland was situated just south of the Mason-Dixon line between the North and South and had the largest free 7 Way Up South

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