【美国人物志】瑟古德·马歇尔 (5/9)

英语自学网

瑟古德·马歇尔（Thurgood Marshall，1908年7月2日－1993年1月24日），美国法律人士，1967年至1991年间担任美国最高法院大法官，他是第一位担任此职的黑人。
在担任大法官前，马歇尔曾在布朗诉托皮卡教育局案中担任原告律师，主张南方各州实施的种族隔离政策违反美国宪法第十四修正案，在最高法院获得胜诉。布朗案因宣告种族隔离政策违宪而成为美国历史上一个里程碑式的判决，美国前总统小布什称其为“一个使美国永远更好的判决”。
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Thurgood Marshall
"Brown versus Board of Education"
Topeka
Kansas
"separate but equal"
Supreme Court

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Legal experts say that Thurgood Marshall's most important case was the one known as "Brown versus Board of Education." The case involved the city of Topeka in the middle western state of Kansas.
A law there said that having separate schools for black students and white students was legal, if the schools were the same. It was the idea of "separate but equal". But the schools were not equal. White children received a better education than black children.
Thurgood Marshall agreed to argue the case before the Supreme Court. When newspapers reported this, he began getting messages, threatening him with death.
Other civil rights lawyers said he was moving too quickly. They said a defeat in the Brown case would greatly damage the cause of civil rights. They told him to wait, to move more carefully and slowly.