Thurgood Marshall was the first African American member of the U.S. Supreme Court. Before his service on the bench, Marshall was an attorney for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He also served as a federal appeals court judge and as solicitor general of the United States.

Marshall was born on July 8, 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of a railroad porter and a schoolteacher. In 1930, he graduated from Lincoln University, an all-black college in Pennsylvania, and entered Howard University Law School. Marshall had wanted to attend the University of Maryland law school, but state law prohibited the admission of African Americans. He was mentored by the dean of the school, Charles Hamilton Houston, who urged his students to use the legal system to change and improve society. In 1933 Marshall graduated first in his class.

Following graduation, Marshall set up a private practice and...