Thurgood Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland into a well respected family. His mother was a school teacher and his father was a writer who worked as a dining car waiter and later as a steward at a private club for men.

From his father he learned his love of facts. They would sit for hours and argue over different topics. Marshall�s father taught his son to argue, and though he never told him to be a lawyer, he helped Thurgood become a great one.

In 1931 Marshall entered Howard University Law School and from there he began speaking against injustices for those who could not speak for themselves. He was a civil rights attorney, and one of his most famous cases was Brown vs. The Board of Education. In 1963 he was appointed to the Supreme Court.