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Thoroughgood Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland to Norma and William Marshall. His mother was a kindergarten teacher and his father, the grandson of slaves, worked as a steward in an expensive club. When he was in second grade, he decided to shorten his name to something that was easier to spell: Thurgood.
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This school was later renamed to be Frederick Douglass High School. When Marhshall got in trouble at school, he had to memorize parts of the Constitution as his punishment.
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Lincoln University is a HBCU in Pennsylvania
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Marshall later said that this event "helped determine the future course of his career."
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When Marshall was young, himself, his father, and his brother would have debates at the dinner table after his father listened to cases at the local courthouse.
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Marshall's Baltimore practice eventually failed because he didn't get any significant cases due to his lack of experience.
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The NAACP used the legal system to strike down many different forms of legalized racism.
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This case helped undermine the legal basis for de jure racial segregation
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This case ended white-only democratic primaries in some southern states.
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This landmark case overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and declared that "separate but equal" was not actually equal.
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During his time as a lawyer, Marshall argued 32 cases in front of the Supreme Court, the most out of anyone in history, and won 29 of them.
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Marshall was known for writing strongly-worded dissents and "consistently supported rulings upholding a strong protection of individual rights and liberal interpretations of controversial social issues." (Biography.com)
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During his career, Marshall was an example for all aspiring lawyers and judges, regardless of race. Someone once said of Marshall that "it's very important that we Negroes have a man who is at home in the Supreme Court and equally at home with the man on the street. Thurgood can talk on terms of equality with a social scientist like Sweden's Gunnar Myrdal, but he talks the argot of Harlem with the man on the street corner. He creates confidence on all levels of Negro life."
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