Lesson 5: Who Was Thurgood Marshall?

Introduction

In this lesson, we will learn about the life of Thurgood Marshall and the case of Brown vs. Board of Education. 

 

Focus Questions:

What events made up the Civil Rights movement? 

Why did important Civil Rights figures think a change needed to be made? 

What did people and the government do to help create equality?

---

Thurgood Marshall

Hello, Students!

Today, we will take a look at who Thurgood Marshall was, what he stood for, and the case of Brown vs. Board of Education that he represented before the Supreme Court.

In the Brown vs. Board of Education case, Marshall argued that ‘separate but equal’ was not in fact equal. Thurgood represented the case all the way to the Supreme Court! The court ruled that having separate public schools for black students and white students was unconstitutional. This made segregation in public schools illegal and paved the way to end racial segregation in general. Future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall was the lead lawyer for the NAACP who argued the case before the court.

 

---

Thurgood Marshall and Brown vs. Board of Education

For this activity, you will take a look at a short biography about Thurgood Marshall and a short summary of the Brown vs. Board of Education case. Please take a look at the information below.

 

Now, you will read some excerpts from the actual Brown vs. Board of Education case. Please take a look at the excerpts below.

---

Assignment

You will now use what you have learned to reflect on the life of Thurgood Marshall and how the events of his life helped to shape him into a successful lawyer.

 

Go to the next page to complete the Thurgood Marshall Flip

 

   

---

[CC BY 4.0] UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED | IMAGES: LICENSED AND USED ACCORDING TO TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION