Maryland

Film Depicting Thurgood Marshall's Early Career Set to Release

An upcoming movie offers a glimpse into Thurgood Marshall's career before he became the first African-American Supreme Court justice in 1967.

"Marshall" is set to hit the big screen on Oct. 13.

The movie shows the challenges he faced while trying to free a black man who was wrongly accused of of sexually assaulting and murdering his white employer while on the job as her chauffeur in 1940 Connecticut. Marshall was an attorney for the NAACP at the time.

Historians say the movie is an important reminder of Marshall's legacy and the injustices of the past.

"It's just so important that we continue to recognize him and what he did for this country," said Thomasina Yearwood, president of the Thurgood Marshall Center Trust in Northwest D.C.

Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and later moved to D.C. to attend Howard University School of Law. 

Chadwick Boseman, the actor who played Jackie Robinson in "42" and James Brown in "Get on Up," plays Marshall in the courtroom drama.

Marshall was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and served on it for 24 years, according to the Supreme Court's website.

There are several tributes to the late justice in the D.C. area, including a charter school named the Thurgood Marshall Academy, the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Center and a sculpture of in his spirit at the Anacostia Smithsonian Museum.

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