A Boy from Baltimore
Thurgood Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 2, 1908. He came from a history of enslaved people on both sides of his family. His given name was Thoroughgood, but he decided to shorten it to Thurgood. He once admitted, “By the time I reached the second grade, I got tired of spelling all that out.”
Thurgood Marshall circa 1960. Photo by Everett Collection / Shutterstock
His father, William, was a railroad porter, and his mother, Norma Arica, was a teacher. He can thank his parents for learning to appreciate the United States Constitution and the rule of law. It was with his father that young Thurgood first learned how to debate. He would take Thurgood and his brother to watch court cases, after which they would debate about what they had seen.