Thurgood Marshall, Desegregation, and HBCUs

In 1930, Thurgood Marshall was denied admission to the University of Maryland based on his race. In the following years, he sued the school on behalf of other Black students who were denied enrollment. While the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education declared school segregation unconstitutional, several lesser-known cases paved the way.

James M. Douglas, Distinguished Professor of Law of Texas Southern University's Thurgood Marshall School of Law, discusses earlier cases like Sweatt v. Painter, which led to the founding of a historically Black university, Texas Southern University, and the legacy of Thurgood Marshall.