Thurgood Marshall

D.O.B. July 2, 1908; Died: January 24, 1993.

Significance: First Black Supreme Court justice.

Notable for: Brown v. Board of Education (1954). As counsel for the plaintiffs, Marshall successfully argued this case in which the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. The backlash to this landmark case led to renewed resistance to change in the Southern states and the ensuing animosity towards the Northern media's coverage of civil rights abuses. This culminated into yet another landmark case: New York Times v. Sullivan.