Celebration of the 70th Anniversary of Brown vs Board of Education

BALTIMORE - April 25, 2024 - PRLog -- The Thurgood Marshall Center Trust will partner with the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture (The Lewis Museum) – a Smithsonian Affiliate, to commemorate the 70^th Anniversary Brown vs. Board of Education celebrating Justice Thurgood Marshall by hosting a reception and panel discussion featuring several renowned civil rights leaders including the Honorable Congressman Kweisi Mfume on Thursday, April 25, at 5:30 pm.

Marshall, born in Baltimore, spent the majority of his youth there – except for a few years in New York City prior to attending elementary school, during which time his parents searched for better employment opportunities. He graduated from the Colored High and Training School (later Frederick Douglass High) in Baltimore in 1925 with honors and then went on to earn a bachelor's degree in 1930, again with honors, from Lincoln University – the oldest Black college in the U.S.

After graduating from Howard University School of Law in June 1933 at the top of his class, he took the Maryland bar exam later that year and passed. He then returned to Baltimore to begin his law practice and to volunteer with the Baltimore branch of the NAACP. Clearly, the City of Baltimore, most notably its polished and professional African American educators and attorneys, had a profound impact on shaping Marshall into the dedicated advocate for equal rights, astute attorney and insightful justice that he would become.

The evening program will bring together panelists who will share their experiences, expertise and knowledge of Justice Marshall's life and career with a focus on the years he spent in Baltimore – both as a child and as an adult. Terri Lee Freeman, president of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, will moderate the event which will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience.

Participants joining Freeman and Mfume will include Larry Gibson, professor, Frances Carey School of Law, University of Maryland and the author of "Young Thurgood – The Making of a Supreme Court Justice" and Dr. Benjamin Chavis, president, National Newspaper Publishers Association and chair of the Board of Directors, Thurgood Marshall Center Trust, Inc.

Chavis said to truly understand Marshall's perspectives on the U.S. Constitution and the law, human rights as they have developed since the nation's founding and the importance of quality education accessible to all citizens, one must examine how "life lived" and "lessons learned" in Baltimore shaped the future supreme court justice.