Young Thurgood: The Making of a Supreme Court Justice
Gibson shared with Marshall the profession of law and the hometown of Baltimore. Those commonalities and scores of interviews with Marshall’s friends, family, mentors, and colleagues give legal scholar Gibson a particular perspective on the formative experiences and driving forces that led to Marshall’s historic career as a civil rights attorney and Supreme Court justice. He focuses on Marshall’s first 30 years, before he joined the NAACP staff. While several biographies have been written about Marshall as an iconic figure, Gibson examines the people and experiences that made Marshall challenge the status quo of his time. He debunks myths about Marshall: for instance, that he hated Baltimore, when what he hated was its segregation, and that he was a late bloomer, when in fact he showed great promise as an intellect and debater early in life. Gibson highlights Marshall’s youthful influences and the racial injustices that spurred him to be a passionate advocate for equality as he took on the lawsuits and campaigns that eventually led to the Brown decision. Photographs enhance this insightful portrait of a complex man. --Vanessa Bush