PBS has set a September 9 premiere for a feature documentary on Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, which counts Emmy-winning documentarian and Firelight Films co-founder Stanley Nelson among its executive producers.
Presented by Maryland Public Television (MPT), Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect traces Marshall’s life and career from his birth in Baltimore in 1908, through his years at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Lincoln University and Howard University School of Law, and on to his groundbreaking career as a lawyer championing civil rights.
After launching his legal career in Baltimore in 1935, Marshall (pictured, with President Lyndon Johnson) went on to win 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court — most notably the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954, which ended racial segregation in public schools. In 1967 he was appointed to the Supreme Court, where he served until his retirement in 1991.
The documentary includes exclusive interviews with Marshall’s family members as well as leading historians, authors and legal experts, all of whom offer their insights on Marshall’s life and legacy.
The film marks the latest collaboration between executive producer Nelson and MPT, following the 2022 projects Becoming Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom.
.png)
