Born: July 2, 1908, Baltimore, MD

Education: Lincoln University, B.A. cum laude, 1930; Howard Law School, LL.B. magna cum laude, 1933

Died: January 24, 1993, Bethesda, MD

Marshall made thirty-two final arguments to the Supreme Court before becoming its first black member (1967–91). He won twenty-nine cases, notably Brown v. Board of Education.

Utilizing the law, he pursued equality. In one final argument, Justice Felix Frankfurter asked him to define the meaning of “equal.” “Equal means getting the same thing, at the same time and in the same place,” he declared. His noted tenure on the Court mirrored that definition. In San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez (1973), for example, justices ruled 5–4 that a Texas property-tax formula for funding education did not violate “equal protection” of the laws. In dissenting, Marshall rebuked their “acquiescence in a system that deprives children ... of the chance to reach their full potential as citizens.”

Marshall's goal was deep rooted. He rose from Charles Houston's assistant and director of the Legal Defense Fund (LDF), which handled NAACP litigation, to the pinnacle of American jurisprudence. LDF's team achieved pathmaking victories, including Smith v. Allwright (1944), which overturned the “white primary” election, and Sweatt v. Painter (1950), which directed the University of Texas School of Law to admit the black applicant. The latter forecast Brown and desegregated education in America.