Thurgood Marshall’s Key Cases
This 1935 photograph shows Thurgood Marshall (standing left) arguing the Murray v. Pearson case at the Baltimore City Courthouse. Charles Hamilton Houston (far right) takes notes as Donald Gaines Murray sits between them. Credit: Maryland State Archives
Essential Question:
Few lawyers have had as many important cases as Thurgood Marshall. In this section, you will learn about some of the cases that defined his career. To get ready, review the definitions of change, fairness, and equality.
Select the arrows to review these key vocabulary terms. Select the Turn button to read the definition for each vocabulary word.
Case # 1 – Murray v. Pearson (1936)
In 1935, Donald Gaines Murray was a 21-year-old African American student with very good grades. He wanted to go to the University of Maryland School of Law to become a lawyer, but his application was denied because he was Black. Raymond A. Pearson was president of the law school, and the rules did not allow African Americans to attend. Thurgood Marshall had the same problem five years earlier. In 1930, Marshall applied to the law school. He was denied because he was African American. Instead, Marshall went to Howard University Law School in Washington, D.C.
Thurgood Marshall worked with his mentor, Charles Hamilton Houston, to end segregation at the University of Maryland School of Law. They took Donald Gaines Murray’s case to court to fight for change and equal education. The trial began on June 18, 1935. On June 22, 1935, The Afro-American newspaper in Baltimore, Maryland ran a headline to announce the court’s decision — “Court Ends MD. U.’s Color Bar”.
The University of Maryland School of Law did not agree with the decision. The school appealed to the Maryland Court of Appeals. They wanted the state’s highest court to change the decision. The Maryland Court of Appeals gave its decision in September 1936. President Pearson and the law school lost the appeal. Donald Gaines Murray was the first African American student admitted to the University of Maryland School of Law. He graduated in 1938. As a lawyer, Murray worked to end segregation in other Maryland schools.
Donald Gaines Murray’s case never went to the federal court system. The decision by the Maryland courts only applied to schools in Maryland. Nationwide changes would come later. Thurgood Marshall was only 27 when the Murray v. Pearson case began. It was one of his first successful cases as a lawyer.
In the following activity, read a 1934 postcard written by Charles Hamilton Houston to Juanita Jackson Mitchell. Mitchell was a civil rights activist and lawyer. She was the first African American woman to practice law in Maryland. Juanita Jackson Mitchell was also an important leader in the Baltimore NAACP.
The postcard shows that Thurgood Marshall was important to the Murray v. Pearson case. It also explains that Charles Hamilton Houston and Marshall traveled to the South to study the quality of segregated schools.
