Footsteps articles from March 2003

Footsteps archives from March 2003

A man of determination.
March 1, 2003... In t he first grade, at age six, he did not like his first name: THOROUGHGOOD. It was too long. Even his parents didn't call him that. When his mom and dad called out to him, they just shouted, "Goody." His friends teased him about his...

The 'best' punishment.
March 1, 2003... In many ways, everything that happened to Thurgood Marshall as a young man prepared him for the role he would play in the Civil Rights Movement. Born on July 2, 1908, in Baltimore, Maryland, Thurgood Marshall became a fearless leader in...

Face to face with prejudice.
March 1, 2003... Thurgood Marshall's early experiences made him sensitive to the problems and concerns of other African Americans. When Thurgood Marshall was born in 1908, the Plessy v. Ferguson decision (see page 10) had been controlling black and white...

Plessy v. Ferguson.
March 1, 2003... Not everyone in the United States was pleased when the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was passed and granted freedmen the same rights as other citizens. There were those who believed that people of African descent were inferior, or not...

Victory is sweet: the case of Murray v. The University of Maryland.
March 1, 2003... Forty years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the Plessy v. Ferguson case, another historic case was decided, and it became the first important victory in the fight to end segregation. It was also the first major ca, a promising young...

Due process.
March 1, 2003... As a high school student, Thurgood Marshall had memorized the U.S. Constitution. It was not his choice. Whenever the future lawyer, judge, and Supreme Court justice got in trouble for talking in class or playing pranks, the principal pulled him...

Bill, of rights.
March 1, 2003... Bill needs help Setting to Constitution Avenue. He must walk forward and obey all arrow signs. He continues in the direction an arrow points until he reaches another sign. If there are 2 arrows in one box, he may go in either direction. Now,...

Charles Hamilton Houston. (Learning From the Best).
March 1, 2003... Charles Hamilton Houston was perhaps the most important influence on African American lawyers who came of age in the 1930s and 1940s and on the mid-20th-century legal crusade against racial discrimination. Born in 1895, Houston grew up in...

Working with the NAACP.
March 1, 2003... Only three years out of law school 28-year-old Thurgood Marshall joined the legal staff of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1936. Founded in 1909, the NAACP had quickly become the most important...

Setting the stage: two more cases build up toward Brown.
March 1, 2003... After their victory in the Murray case, Thurgood Marshall and his colleagues at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) still had work to do. They had helped Donald Murray win a spot at the previously all-white...

Jim Crow.
March 1, 2003... The name "Jim Crow" comes from a minstrel show character. In a minstrel show, actors sing, dance, tell jokes, and perform comic skits. Thomas Dartmouth "Daddy" Rice was an early performer who imitated an old black man singing the Jim Crow song....

History in the making.
March 1, 2003... The word "revolution" most often describes change that is prompted by bloody struggles fought by armed warriors willing to die for their cause. However, in the years since the Civil War, most "revolutions" in the United States have...

'With all deliberate speed'.
March 1, 2003... On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." Throughout the nation, African Americans celebrated the decision. On May 18, 1954, The...

Search for equality.
March 1, 2003... Find and circle each of the 13 words below in the box of letters. There's a catch, though. We've replaced every N, A, C, and P with a *. When you've found all the words, write the unused letters in order (left to right, top to bottom) to reveal...

A Supreme honor. (Then and Now).
March 1, 2003... Even if Thurgood Marshall had retired after winning Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, he would have been ensured a prime place in American history. His career, however, continued for almost 40 more years, 24 of them on the U.S. Supreme...

The Supreme Court.
March 1, 2003... When young Thurgood Marshall was sent to the basement of his high school to memorize portions of the U.S. Constitution, he would not have read much of the 4,543-word document before he came across the section that established the Supreme Court...

An interview with John W. Marshall. (Descendants).
March 1, 2003... John W. Marshall, the son of Thurgood Marshall, is the secretary of public safety for the Commonwealth of Virginia. What is the most important lesson you learned from your father? Simply stated--it was the "golden rule," to treat people...

Aline B. Hicks. (Reflection and Memory).
March 1, 2003... "Without Mrs. Hicks, there would be no Thurgood Marshall," explained Arnold Avant. Avant is the founder and owner of Adsystech, a high-tech company outside Washington, D.C. In the early 1960s, he was a student at Booker T. Washington High...

A legacy in a name.
March 1, 2003... Passionate about his work, Thurgood Marshall could be charming or crass, gentle or abrupt. More than zoo books describe his life and his crusades. Many give detailed analysis of the issues to which he dedicated his life. Marshall is the subject...

Carrying on the spirit. (At the Museum).
March 1, 2003... The Thurgood Marshall Center for Service and Heritage is located at 1816 12th Street in northwest Washington, D.C.'s Shaw community, an area rich in African American history. Out of this neighborhood came the jazz of Duke Ellington, the poetry...

Freedom Riders. (Your Pages).
March 1, 2003... Freedom Riders We are the Freedom Riders who changed history Blacks and whites We are all one big family The odds were against us But we continued on our freedom bus We are the Freedom Riders who changed...

Books. (More About).
March 1, 2003... The Encyclopedia of African-American Heritage by Susan Airman (Facts On File, 1997) includes several entries directly related to Thurgood Marshall. Leaders of Black Civil Rights by Marjorie Vernell (Lucent, 2000) highlights A. Philip...

Cobblestone resources. (More About).
March 1, 2003... Materials that complement this issue's theme, "Thurgood Marshall and Civil Rights," and are available from Cobblestone Publishing include: FOOTSTEPS magazine: "From Montgomery to Birmingham" (FTP0005) "Martin Luther King, Jr.: The...

On the net. (More About).
March 1, 2003... For information about Thurgood Marshall, his life and his decisions, as well as many links to related topics, try: http://oyez.nwu.edu/justices.cgi?justice_id=96 For basic information about Thurgood Marshall and a timetable of...