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May 02, 2014

Thurgood Marshall Service in Austin to Honor Life of Former Justice

Thurgood Marshall, an Episcopalian,
was the first African-American
appointed to the Supreme Court

A special worship service in memory of Thurgood Marshall will be held in Austin at St. James’, 1941 Webberville Road, Austin, TX, Saturday, May 17 at 11 a.m. Marshall was added to the Episcopal Church’s liturgical calendar of Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints, by the 2009 General Convention. May 17 is designated as his feast day.

 

An active Episcopalian, Marshall was the first African-American appointed to the Supreme Court (1967-1991). Prior to his appointment, Marshall favorably argued many cases before the Supreme Court, most notably Brown vs. Brown, which desegregated public schools in the United States.

 

"On May 17, the Episcopal Diocese of Texas and the Union of Black Episcopalians will pause to remember Thurgood Marshall's work ethic, his passion for justice and his faithfulness that shaped his understanding of the law and justice for all,” said Bishop C. Andrew Doyle. “May we all take responsibility as virtuous citizens to shape the nation and the world in which we live." 

 

Marshall was born in 1908 in Baltimore, MD. Both his great grandfather and his grandfather were slaves. His father, William Marshal was a railroad porter and his mother, Norma, was a teacher who instilled in him an appreciation of learning and the law. Marshall attended Lincoln University along with musician Cab Calloway and poet Langston Hughes. While not politically active, Marshall starred on the school’s debate team and protested against segregation at Lincoln. He graduated with honors and attended Howard University School of Law, graduating first in his class. He was not able to study at the University of Maryland School of Law, his first choice, because of the school’s segregation policy. His views on discrimination were greatly influenced by Howard’s dean, Charles Houston, who was also chief counsel for the NAACP.

 

Marshal established a private law practice and represented the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and successfully represented Donald Murray, a black Amherst College graduate who was denied admission to the University of Maryland Law School because of its segregation policy.

 

Marshal won his first case (Chambers v Florida) in the U.S. Supreme Court at the age of 32. The same year he became executive director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and as such argued many other civil rights cases before the Supreme Court, including Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. He won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the Supreme Court.

 

His appointment to the high court lasted 24 years, during which he compiled a liberal record that included support of individual rights, abortion rights and opposition to the death penalty.

In a controversial speech he gave in 1987 on the eve of the nation’s bicentennial celebrations, Marshall said, “The government they devised was defective from the start, requiring several amendments, a civil war and major social transformations to attain the system of constitutional government and its respect for the freedoms and individual rights, we hold as fundamental today.”

 

Among his law clerks were Judge Douglas Ginsburg; Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan and several law school deans. In 1980, the University of Maryland School of Law opened a new library, which it named the Thurgood Marshall Law Library.

 

Marshall attended St. Philip’s Church in Harlem, serving as senior warden and as deputy to the 1964 General Convention. He joined St. Augustine’s, when he moved his family to Washington D.C. in 1965. Marshal was an ardent believer in the separation of church and state and consequently, attended church infrequently after his appointment as a Supreme Court Justice, “concerned that he would develop biased political views which would influence his judgment,” according to the Archives of the Episcopal Church.

His life and work ultimately revealed the depth of faith in his work as he sought justice for all. Marshall died in 1993.

 

A brunch in the parish hall follows the service, hosted by the Myra McDaniels’ chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians.

 

Contact Barbara Calvin, vice president of the UBE chapter for more details at: bcalvinmdiv@gmail.com or contact the church at 512.926.6339.