Thurgood Marshall was a pivotal figure in Black history as the first African American to serve as a justice on the United States Supreme Court. Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1908, Marshall became a prominent civil rights lawyer and advocate before being appointed to the Supreme Court by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1967.

Marshall's legal career was marked by his work as the chief legal counsel for the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) where he argued cases before the Supreme Court, most notably the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 which declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

Throughout his tenure on the Supreme Court, Marshall was a strong advocate for civil rights and racial equality, consistently advocating for the protection of individual rights and the principles of equal justice under the law. His legacy as a trailblazing figure in Black history and American jurisprudence continues to inspire generations of legal scholars, activists, and advocates for social justice.