Court+Robe+of+Thurgood+Marshall

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=I. Artifact Name= Court Robe of Thurgood Marshall

=II. Description of the Artifact and It's Significance= This artifact is important because it was the first time a Black American wore a Supreme Court Justice robe. It was the first time a Black American was given so much power in the government in the United States. He took his oath of office on September 1, 1967. While this was a major accomplishment for any American, President Johnson who attended the ceremony failed to congratulate Mr. Marshall. "It was Marshall who ended legal segregation in the United States. He won Supreme Court victories breaking the color line in housing, transportation and voting, all of which overturned the 'Separate-but-Equal' apartheid of American life in the first half of the century. It was Marshall who won the most important legal case of the century, Brown v. Board of Education, ending the legal separation of black and white children in public schools. The success of the Brown case sparked the 1960s civil rights movement, led to the increased number of black high school and college graduates and the incredible rise of the black middle-class in both numbers and political power in the second half of the century."



"We must never forget that the only real source of power that we as judges can tap is the respect of the people."

=III. Date and Place=

Thurgood Marshall took his oath of office on September 1, 1967 in Washington, D.C. =IV. Related Multimedia Found on the Internet= //([|Thurgood Marshall]// NY times article [|Image from Smithsonian National Museum of History "The Robe"]

=V. Curators (First Name, Last Initial)= dianne, h. john, b. leslie, k.