Berks County Bar Association The Berks Barrister Spring 2018 - 15

almost nonexistent for blacks by 1933." 14 Marshall lost $3,500
that first year in practice.15 When he did have clients, he was
"creating a personal network among lawyers and judges in the city
and building a reputation for himself as a criminal lawyer." 16
"Once, when an opposing white lawyer asked a white judge for
time to check on the legal citations in Marshall's brief, the judge
said it was not necessary. Even though the judge had a reputation
for giving black lawyers a rough time, he told the white attorney:
'You don't have to worry about that-if Mr. Marshall puts his
signature on it, you don't have to check.'" 17
Charles Houston became one of the chief lawyers for the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP), and, given his relationship with Marshall, it was only
natural that the NAACP began referring Maryland cases to
Marshall. The most notable was Murray v. Pearson.
Donald Murray, an African-American graduate of Amherst
College, with impeccable credentials, applied to the University of
Maryland School of Law on January 24, 1935. The University
President, Raymond A. Pearson, immediately sent a rejection letter,
suggesting that he apply to Howard's law school.18 With Charles
Houston and Thurgood Marshall as counsel, Murray sued. The
case went to trial and Houston and Marshall shared duties, even
the closing argument.
"After final arguments, without leaving the bench, Judge
Eugene O'Dunne issued his ruling. To stunned silence, he held
that" Maryland had violated the Equal Protection Clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment and, thus, he "signed a writ of mandamus
ordering that Murray be admitted to the University of Maryland
Law School in September 1935."19 The University appealed the
landmark ruling, but seven months later the Maryland Court of
Appeals affirmed. "This victory, the culmination of more than a
year of intense work by Thurgood Marshall, later came to be called
'the first step on the road to Brown v. Board of Education'..." 20

Becomes Mr. Civil Rights
In 1936, Houston implored the NAACP to hire Marshall to
work in its New York City home office. An offer was forthcoming,
and Marshall promptly accepted. By then, "Marshall realized
he had become and wished to remain a civil rights advocate."21
Given his lack of profit from his practice, "he realized that without
14
15
16
17
18
19

Williams, p. 62.

20

Id. 67.

22

Id.

21

Id. 68.

23

Gibson, p. 235.

Id. 246.

Id. 256.
Id. 329.

Williams, p. 84.
Id. 102.

Houston's guidance and the NAACP's treasury, he might never
get to do the work of breaking down segregation-the work he
really wanted to do."22
For the next 25 years, Thurgood Marshall, as a trial lawyer,
would break down barriers for minorities in housing, jury service,
voting and education, as well as coming to the defense of those
wrongfully charged with crimes. He came to be known as Mr.
Civil Rights.
While he knew his way around county courtrooms, he was
also a very successful advocate before the United States Supreme
Court. Marshall won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the
High Court while with the NAACP. His is an incredible body
of legal work for which this article cannot do justice. Space
permits only a few cases be highlighted.
In 1938, George Porter, an African-American junior-college
president, was summoned for jury duty in Dallas, Texas, but given
"the segregationist tradition in Dallas," the black jurors were
immediately dismissed by the judge. 23 When Porter insisted
on staying, he was grabbed by the collar, dragged through the
courthouse and thrown down the front steps.
Continued on page 16

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Berks County Bar Association The Berks Barrister Spring 2018

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