PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Thurgood Marshall

PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Thurgood Marshall
By Paul Thompson

Broadcast: Sunday, May 16, 2004

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VOICE ONE:

This is Gwen Outen.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Doug Johnson with People in America in VOA Special English. Every week we tell about a person who was important in the history of the United States. Today we tell about a man who helped change the racial separation laws of America, Thurgood Marshall.

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VOICE ONE:

 
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was born a free man. But the father of his grandfather was a slave. He had lived in what was the Congo area of Africa. A man from the eastern American city of Baltimore, Maryland, brought him to the United States. He later set him free.

Thurgood Marshall was born in Baltimore on July Second, Nineteen-Oh-Eight. In that city, and in many other parts of the United States at that time, black people were separated from white people by law. Black children did not go to school with white children. Black people lived only in areas where other blacks lived.

VOICE TWO:

Over the years, Thurgood Marshall became a very good story-teller. 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 was a boy in Baltimore.

Mister¹ Marshall said one of his teachers punished him by sending him to the room where the school's heating² equipment was kept. There he was told to read and remember the words of the Constitution of the United States.

The Constitution is a long document. Thurgood Marshall said he read all of it...more than once...and learned³ to remember most of it.

He said this school boy punishment gave him a life-long respect for the Constitution. As he grew older, he began to think about the Constitution's guarantees of freedom. Those guarantees, he believed, should be for people of all races, not just for white people.

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VOICE ONE:

 
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall attended Lincoln University in the state of Pennsylvania. He completed his studies, with honors⁵, in nineteen-thirty. He wanted to go to law school at the University of Maryland. But officials at that school refused to let him attend, because he was black. So, he went to law school at Howard University in Washington D.C. Howard University was a school for African-Americans. Thurgood Marshall graduated first in his class.

After completing his law studies, he accepted the case of a young black man who wanted to become a lawyer, too. The young man wanted to attend the University of Maryland law school. It was the same school that had refused to admit Thurgood Marshall. Again, the school refused to let a black man become a student. So, Mister Marshall took legal action. He won the case. The young black man was permitted to attend the university's law school.

Thurgood Marshall would go on to win many more cases dealing⁶ with racial separation laws. And years later, the University of Maryland would name its law library in his honor⁴.

VOICE TWO:

Thurgood Marshall was a very good lawyer. The people he represented in court were black and poor. He never earned much money. But his name soon became well known. The National Association⁷ for the Advancement⁸ of Colored People offered him a job. He went to work as one of its legal representatives.

In time, he became the organization's chief legal representative. He traveled across the United States. He fought against racial separation laws. He also defended black people who were charged with a crime, but who did not have the money to pay for legal help.

Many of those cases reached America's highest court, the Supreme⁹ Court of the United States. During his life as a lawyer, Thurgood Marshall argued cases before the Supreme Court more than thirty times. He lost only a few cases. Slowly, the laws of racial separation in America began to change. Many of those changes were the result of the work of Thurgood Marshall.

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VOICE ONE:

Legal experts say that Thurgood Marshall's most important case was the one known as "Brown versus¹⁰ Board of Education." The case involved the city of Topeka in the middle western state of Kansas.

A law there said that having separate schools for black students and white students was legal, if the schools were the same. It was the idea of "separate but equal". But the schools were not equal. White children received a better education than black children.

Thurgood Marshall agreed to argue the case before the Supreme Court. When newspapers reported this, he began getting messages, threatening him with death.

Other civil rights lawyers said he was moving too quickly. They said a defeat in the Brown case would greatly damage the cause of civil rights. They told him to wait, to move more carefully and slowly.

VOICE TWO:

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. Mister Marshall said it was a violation¹¹ of the Constitution to separate people because of their race.

So, he argued, the racially-separated schools in Topeka, Kansas, were illegal. He added that nothing could be equal in racially-separated schools.

One Supreme Court justice asked him to explain what he meant by the word equal. He answered: "Equal means getting the same thing, at the same time, and in the same place. The Supreme Court agreed. It ruled that no one could be rejected from a school in Topeka because of race.

VOICE ONE:

The case of "Brown versus Board of Education" provided¹² the basis for other court decisions. It helped destroy the terrible wall of legal racial separation throughout the United States. Some people say it is the most important Supreme Court decision of the Twentieth century.

 
Graphic¹³ Image
That decision was the beginning of years of legal battles against racial separation in America's schools. It also sent a message to the people of the nation that black Americans had the same rights as white Americans.

Many African-Americans said Mister Marshall's victory in nineteen-fifty-four changed their lives and their futures¹⁴. For example, Sherman Parks is the former president of the school board of Topeka, Kansas. He said that without the victory he would never have had a chance to get a good education and become a lawyer.

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VOICE TWO:

In nineteen-sixty-one, President John Kennedy named Thurgood Marshall to be a judge of a federal¹⁵ appeals court. During his years on that court, Judge Marshall wrote more than one-hundred opinions on different legal issues. Several of his opinions from those days have been approved as law by a majority of the Supreme Court.

In nineteen-sixty-seven, President Lyndon Johnson nominated¹⁶ Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court. President Johnson said the nomination¹⁷ was the right thing to do, and the right time to do it. Thurgood Marshall became the first black person to serve as a Supreme Court Justice. He served for twenty-four years.

Justice Marshall wrote opinions about legal representation¹⁸ in America's criminal justice system. He said everyone has the right to be represented by a good lawyer, no matter how guilty they may be.

In his last years on the Supreme Court, he often voted against the majority of the more conservative¹⁹ members. Justice Marshall always voted in dissent²⁰ in cases in which the majority voted that a death sentence was legal. He said no one should be put to death for any reason.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen-ninety-one, Thurgood Marshall announced that he would retire from the Supreme Court. Some reports said he no longer wanted to fight against the conservative majority of the court. At a news conference, a reporter asked him why he was retiring. Justice Marshall looked at the man and said, simply: "I am getting old and coming apart."

Another reporter asked Justice Marshall how he would like to be remembered. He sat quietly for a moment. Then Thurgood Marshall said: "I want to be remembered for doing the best I could with what I had."

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VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Lawan Davis. And our studio engineer was Tony Pollock. This is Doug Johnson.

VOICE ONE:

And this is Gwen Outen. Listen again next week for People in America in VOA Special English.

1 mister   

n.(略作Mr.全称很少用于书面)先生

参考例句：

• Mister Smith is my good friend.史密斯先生是我的好朋友。
• He styled himself " Mister Clean ".他自称是“清廉先生”。

2 heating   

n.加热，供暖，暖气装置；adj.加热的，供暖的

参考例句：

• They will install a heating and lighting system in our house.他们将在我们家装上供热供电系统。
• If the pressure is too low,the heating system will act up.如果压力太低，供暖系统就会出毛病。

3 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

4 honor   

n.光荣；敬意；荣幸；vt.给…以荣誉；尊敬

参考例句：

• I take your visit as a great honor.您的来访是我莫大的光荣。
• It is a great honor to receive that prize.能拿到那个奖是无上的光荣。

5 honors   

n.礼仪；荣典；礼节； 大学荣誉学位；大学优等成绩；尊敬( honor的名词复数 )；敬意；荣誉；光荣

参考例句：

• He aims at honors. 他力求名誉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We did the last honors to his remains. 我们向他的遗体告别。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

7 association   

n.联盟，协会，社团；交往，联合；联想

参考例句：

• Our long association with your company has brought great benefits.我方和贵公司的长期合作带来了巨大的利益。
• I broke away from the association ten years ago.我10年前就脱离了那个团体。

8 advancement   

n.前进，促进，提升

参考例句：

• His new contribution to the advancement of physiology was well appreciated.他对生理学发展的新贡献获得高度赞赏。
• The aim of a university should be the advancement of learning.大学的目标应是促进学术。

9 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

10 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

11 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

12 provided   

conj.假如，若是；adj.预备好的，由...供给的

参考例句：

• Provided it's fine we will have a pleasant holiday.如果天气良好，我们的假日将过得非常愉快。
• I will come provided that it's not raining tomorrow.如果明天不下雨，我就来。

13 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

14 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

15 federal   

adj.联盟的；联邦的；(美国)联邦政府的

参考例句：

• Switzerland is a federal republic.瑞士是一个联邦共和国。
• The schools are screaming for federal aid.那些学校强烈要求联邦政府的援助。

16 nominated   

adj.被提名的，被任命的 动词nominate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• She has been nominated for the presidency. 她已经获得了董事长职位的提名。
• The movie was nominated for an Oscar. 这部电影获奥斯卡金像奖提名。

17 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

18 representation   

n.表现某人（或某事物）的东西，图画，雕塑

参考例句：

• The painting is a representation of a storm at sea.这幅画描绘的是海上的暴风雨。
• All parties won representation in the national assembly.所有政党在国民大会中都赢得了代表资格。

19 conservative   

adj.保守的，守旧的；n.保守的人，保守派

参考例句：

• He is a conservative member of the church.他是一个守旧教会教友。
• The young man is very conservative.这个年轻人很守旧。

20 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。