A crowd protesting in front of the Capitol 1967 Pictured in the center is Stokely Carmichael a civil rights leader of the 1960s 1969 A women’s liberation march The women are marching for both women’s liberation and black equality 2
like San Francisco were hotbeds of what was called counter culture unrest with young people rejecting what they thought of as restrictive traditional values They rejected the idea that African African Americans were expected to be content with second class citizenship They rejected the notion that women should limit their career ambitions to jobs deemed appropriate like secretary nurse or elementary school teacher It seemed to many that America was unraveling Large swaths of the population mostly in southern suburban and rural communities communities were alarmed and angry about these upheavals Many of them placed the blame on one man Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall was the lawyer who had dedicated his career to ending racial segregation His work culminated in a 1954 Supreme Court decision called Brown v Board of Education Education the case that outlawed racial segregation in schools Brown v Board of Education disrupted the South and became a catalyst catalyst for the civil rights movement which in turn paved the way for the women’s rights movement and the 1960s counterculture revolution In the words of one U S senator Thurgood Marshall was considered a public enemy of the South 3 A Public Enemy
On June 13 1967 President Lyndon B Johnson who hailed from Texas and had long been an advocate of racial equality under the law called a press conference He stood in the White House Rose Garden next to Thurgood Marshall and announced that he was nominating Marshall to the United States Supreme Court I believe he has already earned his place in history President President Johnson told the assembled crowd but I think it will be greatly enhanced by his service on the Court I believe he earned that appointment he is the best qualified by training and by very valuable service to the country THURGOOD MARSHALL
The word spread like a wildfire Letters poured in to the president and members of Congress Some people were thrilled Others were horrified Please sir no N on the Supreme Court bench came a typical letter with looting and burning and riots all over the country so many feel as we do Senator Strom Thurmond from South Carolina was determined determined to block Marshall’s nomination He was the author of the Southern Manifesto a 1956 document denouncing efforts by the federal government to end segregation Thurmond joined with three other southern senators John McClellan from Arkansas Sam Ervin from North Carolina and James Eastland of Mississippi Mississippi All four were on the Senate Judiciary Committee so they would have a chance to question Thurgood Marshall in an open hearing All four resented what Thurgood Marshall had done in their states as an activist lawyer Senator Thurmond told his staff to start digging He wanted dirt he could use to prevent Marshall from taking a place on the United States Supreme Court His research team plunged into their task Hearings would begin within a few weeks They didn’t have much time to come up with a plan President Johnson nominates Thurgood Marshall to be an associate Supreme Court Justice 5 A Public Enemy
