Ben Paine Paine 1
Mrs. Souza-Pontes/Mrs. Byron
English/Social Studies
3 May 2013 Thurgood Marshall He was a rare man of his time, one who wasn’t afraid to go head-to-head with a white man, especially in front of a judge. Thurgood Marshall had a very strong influence on the Civil Rights Movement. His arguments and cases helped provide the kick start to allow the Civil Rights Movement to begin. On July 2, 1908, in Baltimore, Maryland (Horn 44), Thoroughgood Marshall, later known Thurgood to shorten the length, was born to Norma and William Marshall (Pinkney 108). As a young boy, Thurgood’s father got him interested in law by bringing his son with him to the local court house during free time (110). William became the first black man in a grand jury in Baltimore, and he inspired Thurgood by being very vocal (110). Young Thurgood also got a feel for the law from his principle in grade school who made him memorize parts of the Constitution as punishment for pulling pranks (108). He was most interested with the 14th and 15th Amendments which stated that everyone was equal (109) because they didn‘t seem to be true to the way things were in the world around him. He went on to graduate with honor from Lincoln University of Pennsylvania and received his law degree from Howard University in 1933 as first in his class (Horn 44). During his college years, in 1929, Marshall married Vivian “Buster” Burey, who later past away due to lung cancer February 11, 1955 (44). On December 17, 1955, he married Cecelia “Cissy” Sugat (44) and had two kids named John and Thurgood Jr. (Hess Paine 2
91). Thurgood later died at the age of 84 on January 24, 1993, and was buried in the Arlington National Cemetery located in Arlington, Virginia