家喻户晓。美国有色人种协进会给他提供了一份工作，让他担任该协进会的一名法定代理人。很快，他就成为该组织的首席法定代理人。他到美国各地巡游，他与种族分裂的法律作斗争，他还为那些被指控犯罪的黑人进行辩护，却没有人为他所提供的法律援助而支付报酬。他所代理的许多案件最终到达了美国的最高法院，即美国最高法院。在他担任律师期间，瑟古德.马歇尔曾三十多次站在最高法院大法官面前为他的代理人进行辩护。他只输了很少几次的官司。慢慢地，美国的种族分裂的法律开始改变了，这些种族分裂的法律的改变，有许多应该归功于瑟古德.马歇尔的努力。
法律专家说，瑟古德.马歇尔所处理的最重要的案件是著名的“布朗诉教育委员会案”。这个案件涉及到美国中部的堪萨斯州的托皮卡市，当地有一部法律说，如果学校一样的话，那么将黑人学生与白人学生分开是合法的，这就是“分开，但却是平等的”思想。然而，这些学校却并不平等，白人孩子能够得到比黑人孩子更好的教育。
瑟古德.马歇尔同意为这个案件到最高法院进行辩护。当报纸报道了这件事时，他开始收到一些要威胁他生命的信息。其他一些关注民权的律师说，他走得太快了。他们说，如果布朗案件败诉，那将对民权运动带来极大的损害，他们对他说，要等待，要小心前行，要慢慢地前进，不要走的太快。
瑟古德.马歇尔没有听那些对他发出生命威胁的人的话，他也没有听那些让他慢点走的人的话。最高法院于1954年审理这个案件，马歇尔先生说，因种族而将人民分裂开，这是违反宪法的。所以，他辩护说，堪萨斯州托皮卡市学校实行种族分裂是非法的，他进一步指出，在种族分裂的学校里，一切都是不平等的。有一位最高法院的法官要求他解释一下“公平”的含义，他回答说：“公平的意思就是在同一时间，同一地点，获得同样的东西。”这位最高法院的法官同意他的解释。最高法院裁定：在托皮卡市，任何一所学校不能因为种族的原因而拒绝任何一个人进入。
“布朗诉教育委员会案”为其他法院的判决提供了基础，它帮助摧毁了横立在美国全国的种族隔离之墙。有些人说，这是美国最高法院在二十世纪所作出的最重要的判决，这个判决开创了在美国学校反对种族隔离的合法斗争的新时代，这个判决还向全国人民传递了一个信息：美国的黑人与美国的白人有着同样的权利。许多黑人说，马歇尔先生在1954年的胜利改变了他们的生活和他们的未来。
在1961年，约翰.肯尼迪总统任命瑟古德.马歇尔为联邦上诉法院的法官。在他担任联邦上诉法院法官期间，马歇尔法官就不同的法律问题撰写了一百多份意见，有好几份意见被美国最高法院多数法官同意批准为法律。
在1967年，林登.约翰逊总统提名瑟古德.马歇尔为美国最高法院法官，约翰逊总统说，这项提名是在正确的时间里所做出的正确的行为。瑟古德.马歇尔成为美国历史上第一位担任美国最高法院法官的黑人，他担任法院法官达二十四年。马歇尔法官就在美国犯罪审判体系中的合法代理人方面撰写了他的意见，他说，任何一个人，无论他可能犯了什么样的罪，他都有权得到优秀律师作为他的代理人。在他在最高法院的最后几年里，他经常投票反对最高法院中多数保守派法官的意见。在一些案件中，多数法官投票同意：死刑是合法的，而此时，马歇尔法官总是投票反对。他说，任何人不得以任何理由被判死刑。
在1991年，瑟古德.马歇尔宣布，他将从最高法院退休。有些记者说，他不想再与最高法院的多数的保守派斗了。在一次记者招待会上，有一位记者问他，为什么要退休。马歇尔法官看了看这位记者，然后简单地说了一句：“我老了，我就得离开。”另一位记者问马歇尔法官，他希望人民如何怀念他。他静静坐在那，思考了一会儿，然后瑟古德.马歇尔说：“我希望人民能记住这样一点：我以我所有的一切，尽我所能做我所能做的一切。”
简评：
什么是公平？
公平就是在同一时间，同一地点，能够得到同样的东西。
这个公平应该是绝对的公平，这里没有了个人的能力，没有了个人的出身和地位，没有了其他的客观条件。一视同仁。
然而，这样的绝对公平有吗？我想是没有的。
美国种族之间的不平等，持续了一、二百年，就是在今天，也没有完全达到应有的平等。要说平等，那也只是相对的平等。美国人为了追求种族之间的平等，多少仁人志士，付出了多少的艰辛，有些人甚至付出了生命的代价，才有今天的结果。因此，要想公平，就必须努力去争取，天下不会掉下一个公平来。
社会永远是处于不公平之中，就如同流水一样，永远不会波平浪静，总是有起有伏，这是自然规律，也是社会规律。因此，政府的职责就是想尽一切办法，尽最大的可能，让社会尽可能的公平。
除了政府之外，社会中所遭受不公平待遇的人，应该勇敢地站出来，为争取自己的公平而努力，并以此进一步激起政府加大工作力度，从而更快更好地解决社会不公平现象。
本文中说到了一个著名的案件，即“布朗诉教育委员会”案，说的是教育不公平。而我们现行的法律和制度，已经很明显保护着我们的教育不公平。大家都知道我们的教育存在着严重的不公平？然而，我们很少听到有人对我们现行的教育体制和教育制度，以及相关的教育法律、法规提出起诉，或提出质疑。如果没有这种起诉，或质疑，那么我们的教育不公平还将继续下去，这不仅影响着现在我们的孩子们，更重要的是影响我们国家的未来。
Thurgood Marshall, 1908-1993: First African American to Serve onthe US Supreme Court
Every week we tell about a person who was important in the historyof the United States. Today we tell about a man who helped changethe racial separation laws of America, Thurgood Marshall.
Thurgood Marshall was born a free man. But the father of hisgrandfather was a slave. He had lived in what was the Congo area ofAfrica. A man from the eastern American city of Baltimore,Maryland, brought him to the United States. He later set himfree.
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was born in Baltimore on July second,nineteen-oh-eight. In that city, and in many other parts of theUnited States at that time, black people were separated from whitepeople by law. Black children did not go to school with whitechildren. Black people lived only in areas where other blackslived.
Over the years, Thurgood Marshall became a very good storyteller.He told stories about himself, or about places he had visited.Often, the stories were funny. But most also had a serious message.One story was about being in trouble with his teachers when he wasa boy in Baltimore. Mister Marshall said one of his teacherspunished him by sending him to the room where the school's heatingequipment was kept. There he was told to read and remember thewords of the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution isa long document. Thurgood Marshall said he read all of it -- morethan once -- and learned to remember most of it. He said thisschoolboy punishment gave him a life-long respect for theConstitution. As he grew older, he began to think about theConstitution's guarantees of freedom. Those guarantees, hebelieved, should be for people of all races, not just for whitepeople.
Thurgood Marshall attended Lincoln University in the state ofPennsylvania. He completed his studies, with honors, in nineteenthirty. He wanted to go to law school at the University ofMaryland. But officials at that school refused to let him attendbecause he was black. So he went to law school at Howard Universityin Washington D.C. Howard University was a school for AfricanAmericans. Thurgood Marshall graduated first in his class. Aftercompleting his law studies, he accepted the case of a young blackman who wanted to become a lawyer, too. The young man wanted toattend the University of Maryland law school. It was the sameschool that had refused to admit Thurgood Marshall. Again, theschool refused to let a black man become a student. So, MisterMarshall took legal action. He won the case. The young black manwas permitted to attend the university's law school. ThurgoodMarshall would go on to win many more cases dealing with racialseparation laws. And years later, the University of Maryland wouldname its law library in his honor.
Thurgood Marshall was a very good lawyer. The people he representedin court were black and poor. He never earned much money. But hisname soon became well known. The National Association for theAdvancement of Colored People offered him a job. He went to work asone of its legal representatives. In time, he became theorganization's chief legal representative. He traveled across theUnited States. He fought against racial separation laws. He alsodefended black people who were charged with a crime, but who didnot have the money to pay for legal help. Many of those casesreached America's highest court, the Supreme Court of the UnitedStates. During his life as a lawyer, Thurgood Marshall argued casesbefore the Supreme Court more than thirty times. He lost only a fewcases. Slowly, the laws of racial separation in America began tochange. Many of those changes were the result of the work ofThurgood Marshall.
Legal experts say that Thurgood Marshall's most important case wasthe one known as 'Brown versus Board of Education.' The caseinvolved the city of Topeka in the middle western state of Kansas.A law there said that having separate schools for black studentsand white students was legal, if the schools were the same. It wasthe idea of 'separate but equal'. But the schools were not equal.White children received a better education than blackchildren.
Thurgood Marshall agreed to argue the case before the SupremeCourt. When newspapers reported this, he began getting messagesthreatening him with death. Other civil rights lawyers said he wasmoving too quickly. They said a defeat in the Brown case wouldgreatly damage the cause of civil rights. They told him to wait, tomove more carefully and slowly.
Thurgood Marshall did not listen to the threats against his life.And he did not listen to those who said he should move more slowly.The Supreme Court heard the case in nineteen fifty-four. MisterMarshall said it was a violation of the Constitution to separatepeople because of their race. So, he argued, the racially separatedschools in Topeka, Kansas, were illegal. He added that nothingcould be equal in racially separated schools. One Supreme Courtjustice asked him to explain what he meant by the word equal. Heanswered: 'Equal means getting the same thing, at the same time,and in the same place.' The Supreme Court agreed. It ruled that noone could be rejected from a school in Topeka because ofrace.
The case of 'Brown versus Board of Education' provided the basisfor other court decisions. It helped destroy the terrible wall oflegal racial separation throughout the United States. Some peoplesay it is the most important Supreme Court decision of thetwentieth century. That decision was the beginning of years oflegal battles against racial separation in America's schools. Italso sent a message to the people of the nation that blackAmericans had the same rights as white Americans. Many AfricanAmericans said Mister Marshall's victory in nineteen fifty-fourchanged their lives and their futures.
In nineteen sixty-one, President John Kennedy named ThurgoodMarshall to be a judge of a federal appeals court. During his yearson that court, Judge Marshall wrote more than one hundred opinionson different legal issues. Several of his opinions from those dayshave been approved as law by a majority of the Supreme Court.
Justice Marshall served on the Supreme Court for 24 years
In nineteen sixty-seven, President Lyndon Johnson nominatedThurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court. President Johnson said thenomination was the right thing to do, and the right time to do it.Thurgood Marshall became the first black person to serve as aSupreme Court Justice. He served for twenty-four years. JusticeMarshall wrote opinions about legal representation in America'scriminal justice system. He said everyone has the right to berepresented by a good lawyer, no matter how guilty they may be. Inhis last years on the Supreme Court, he often voted against themajority of the more conservative members. Justice Marshall alwaysvoted in dissent in cases in which the majority voted that a deathsentence was legal. He said no one should be put to death for anyreason.
In nineteen ninety-one, Thurgood Marshall announced that he wouldretire from the Supreme Court. Some reports said he no longerwanted to fight against the conservative majority of the court. Ata news conference, a reporter asked him why he was retiring.Justice Marshall looked at the man and said, simply: 'I am gettingold and coming apart.' Another reporter asked Justice Marshall howhe would like to be remembered. He sat quietly for a moment. ThenThurgood Marshall said: 'I want to be remembered for doing the bestI could with what I had.'
