Us & Them: America’s Civil Rights Champion

About this episode

This episode highlights Thurgood Marshall’s legacy and his role in the fight against racial segregation in public schools.

Many people know Thurgood Marshall as the first African American U.S. Supreme Court justice, however, first he had a long and distinguished career with the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. On this episode of Us & Them, Trey Kay hosts a community conversation highlighting Thurgood Marshall’s legacy and sharing excerpts from a new Maryland Public Television documentary “Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect.” Marshall was the lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the 1954 Brown vs Board of Education case which declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional. His work used the law as a tool for social change while dismantling institutional racism and inspiring social reforms.

People in this episode

Host: Trey Kay

Topics covered

• civil rights
• Thurgood Marshall
• social change
• institutional racism

Keywords

• ACLU
• NAACP
• Brown vs Board of Education
• documentary

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect

Books & works: Us & Them, Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect

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