Berks County Bar Association The Berks Barrister Spring 2018 - 14
w w w.BERKSBAR.org
An "Evangelist" of the Fourteenth
Continued from page 13
Thriving in Law School
Marshall graduated in 1930 and by then was married
to "Vivian Burey, a beautiful University of Pennsylvania
student."8 They moved into his parents' home in Baltimore.
Being a lawyer was still his goal. Marshall did not apply to the
University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore because he
knew it did not admit African Americans. Instead, he applied
and was admitted to the law school at Howard University in
Washington, D.C. However, he could not afford to live in
DC. So, he commuted six days a week, getting up at 5:00 am,
walking a mile to the train station, and then a few blocks from
Union Station to the law school, beginning classes at 8:00 am.9
He thrived in law school and, as the highest-achieving
student, became the assistant librarian, the only paid student
position. When he graduated in June 1933, Marshall was the
only member of the class to graduate cum laude.10 Two weeks
later he took Maryland's bar examination, which at the time had
a passing rate of less than 50 percent. He passed.
During law school, Marshall and Dean Charles Hamilton
Houston developed a close personal relationship; the Dean
admired his student's "willingness to do hard work." 11 While
a student, he had assisted Houston in defending a black man
in Virginia charged with murder. It was the first time black
lawyers defended a black man in Virginia. He was found guilty
but was not sentenced to death.
"Marshall and Houston celebrated as if they had won. 'If
you get a life term for a Negro charged with killing a white
person in Virginia, you've won,' Marshall said later. 'You've won
because normally they were hanging them.'"12
Struggling in Private Practice
When Marshall was admitted to the Maryland bar, he was
one of only 33 active black practitioners, out of a total of 2,700
Maryland lawyers. He "had joined a special brotherhood of
black Baltimore lawyers who had been fighting for civil rights
for decades."13
It was not easy starting a solo practice in 1933. "The Great
Depression deepened, and money was tight for whites but
8
9
Id. 101.
10
11
12
Id. 107.
Id. 123.
Id. 58.
13
14 | Berks Barrister
Williams, p. 56.
Gibson, p. 125.
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Berks County Bar Association The Berks Barrister Spring 2018
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Berks County Bar Association The Berks Barrister Spring 2018
Berks County Bar Association The Berks Barrister Spring 2018 - 1
Berks County Bar Association The Berks Barrister Spring 2018 - 2
Berks County Bar Association The Berks Barrister Spring 2018 - 3
Berks County Bar Association The Berks Barrister Spring 2018 - 4
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