Berks County Bar Association The Berks Barrister Spring 2018 - 16

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An "Evangelist" of the Fourteenth

Continued from page 15
primary, which, at the time, was where the action actually took
place. Marshall brought suit in 1941. After losing in the lower
courts, Marshall argued the case before the United States
Supreme Court, which ruled in his favor, finding white primaries
to be unconstitutional. Smith v. Allwright (1944).
Racism was not restricted to the South. In big cities of the
North, as well as elsewhere, including the South, restrictive
covenants became a popular technique in the early 1900s for
keeping blacks out of white neighborhoods. Such housing
discrimination cases worked their way to the Supreme Court
where Marshall argued racial covenants violated the Fourteenth
Amendment's equal protection clause because state courts
enforced such discrimination. The Supreme Court agreed by a
6-0 vote, ruling such covenants were unconstitutional. Shelley v.
Kraemer (1948). At the time, Joe Louis was a champion boxer.
Black America "began hailing Marshall as the Joe Louis of the
courtroom." 27

Danger was Never Far Away

After news of the incident reached New York City, the
NAACP announced that Marshall was going to Dallas to
investigate. Local NAACP officials learned that the Dallas police
chief intended to personally take Marshall "and kick the shit out
of him."24 Whereupon, the Governor assigned a Texas Ranger to
protect him. After the first week of interviewing judges, Marshall
was walking to the car where the Ranger was waiting for him,
when the chief of police came running with his gun drawn
toward Marshall and shouted, "Hi, you black son of a bitch, I've
got you now." The Ranger pulled his gun and faced the chief:
"Fella, just stay right where you are."25 Marshall and the Ranger
then drove away.
While no one was prosecuted in the Porter case, Marshall's
presence in Dallas put the authorities on notice that the NAACP
"had the legal know-how, the political power, and the people to
put up a fight for the rights of blacks."26 Gradually, thereafter,
blacks began serving on juries in Texas.
Also in Texas, while blacks were allowed to vote in the general
election, they were banned from voting in the Democratic
24
25
26
27

Id. 103.

Id. 103-104.
Id. 104.

Id. 151.

16 | Berks Barrister

But in the Jim Crow South, Marshall was a marked man.
Whether on a fundraising trip for the NAACP or in town
defending blacks charged with a crime, he never slept in the same
place twice, sometimes moving every few hours, with armed
guards watching outside. On one occasion, while Marshall was
staying in a home in Birmingham, a car drove onto the home's
sidewalk and a passenger tried to throw an explosive device out
of the car. Instead, it went off prematurely, blowing off part of his
arm. 28
On another occasion, Marshall was almost lynched. He
had been representing two black men in Columbia, Tennessee,
charged with rioting and attempted murder. When leaving
Columbia, with his fellow NAACP attorneys, to return to
Nashville, where they were staying because it was not safe to
spend the night in Columbia, they were chased by a police car.
After being stopped and searched, Marshall was pushed into the
police car and the others were told to continue onto Nashville.
The police car started back toward town but then turned onto
a small dirt road that passed through woods toward the Duck
River. "And it was at the bottom of Duck River that, during the
trial, the NAACP lawyers had been told their bodies would end
up." 29
28

Id. 249.

Gilbert King, Devil in the Grove, (HarperCollins Publishers 2012), p. 18
(hereinafter "King").
29
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Berks County Bar Association The Berks Barrister Spring 2018

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