Thurgood Marshall's Work In The Civil Rights Movement

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During Thurgood Marshall’s work in the Civil Rights Movement he said, “The goal of a true democracy such as ours, explained simply, is that any baby born in these United States… is endowed with the exact same rights as a child born to a Rockefeller,” (Adelman). During his work in the judicial system, first as a civil rights lawyer and then as a judge, Marshall strived to work towards a democracy focused on equality eventually becoming known as “Mr. Civil Rights,” (Archer). Although Marshall is primarily remembered for working towards African American rights as a Supreme Court Justice, Marshall strived for equal citizenship under the law for all people. Many of Marshalls ideas mentioned in his dissents stem from the lessons and ideas he learned early on from his parents and mentors during his childhood and college years. In his work in the Civil Rights …show more content…

In the Taylor v. Louisiana case of 1975 Marshall argued that women need to be allowed to serve on jury because they provide a new prospective that men cannot provide. He said, “The truth is that the two sexes are not fungible; a community made up exclusively of one is different from a community composed of both,” (Banks). However, when racial and gender inequalities intersected in the court, Marshall often supported the side to protect the minorities because it embodied both men and women. In the Alexander v. Louisiana case, for example, Marshall focused on the inequality that the jury was only comprised of white men instead of focusing on the gender inequality of the jury (Banks). While Marshall could not focus on gender inequalities in all cases during the Civil Rights Movement, he became known as a friend to women who worked towards equality for all minorities including