January 24

January 24, 1993 – Thurgood Marshall

Thurgood Marshall the first African American Supreme Court Justice in the United States died at age 84 in Bethesda, Maryland on January 24, 1993. Marshall was born on July 2, 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland.

On October 2, 1967, one hundred and two years after the end of slavery, Thurgood Marshall was sworn in to the Supreme Court of the United States.Thurgood Marshall was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Lyndon B. Johnson on June 13, 1967. On August 30, 1967 Marshall was confirmed by a Senate vote of 69-11 to become the first African American Supreme Court Associate Justice. He served as an Associate Justice for 24 years from October 2, 1967 until October 1, 1991.

In this telephone conversation on July 7, 1965, almost two years prior to Thurgood Marshall’s nomination for Supreme Court Justice, President Johnson ask him to become Solicitor General.