A portrait honoring civil rights lawyer and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall will hang in Baltimore’s City Hall before moving to a new education and community resource center in West Baltimore.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott unveiled Marshall’s portrait, created by artist Ernest Shaw Jr., at City Hall on Thursday.
“The impact that Baltimore’s native son, Thurgood Marshall, made on our city and our nation transcends race, age, and time,” Scott said. “His relentless pursuit of justice serves not only as an inspiration to me, but to every person who knows his story.”
The portrait will be displayed at City Hall until June 24. The portrait will then be moved to its permanent home at the Thurgood Marshall Amenity Center in West Baltimore’s Upton neighborhood after the center is completed.
The building being renovated for the community resource center is the former Public School No. 103, or Henry Highland Garnet School, where Marshall attended when it was a segregated elementary school, The Afro reported.
“As we celebrate his 115th birthday, this portrait will light up City Hall with his spirit of service, sacrifice, and justice,” Scott said. “Once it’s honored time here comes to an end next year, the portrait will become a permanent fixture in the Thurgood Marshall Amenity Center, a place dedicated to honoring Justice Marshall by serving communities in West Baltimore.”
Born in West Baltimore, Thurgood Marshall was introduced to law when his high school principal made him read the entire U.S. Constitution as “punishment” for a prank he’d pulled. According to his profile on the United States Courts website, he took a particularly strong interest in Article III, the section that dealt with the creation of the nation’s judicial system, and the Bill of Rights.
“From an early age, Marshall was aware of racial injustices in America, and he decided to do something about them. Moreover, he also knew that the courts might be the best means for doing so,” the website reads.
Marshall attended all-Black Lincoln University. Then, after being rejected from the University of Maryland because of his race, he attended Howard University Law School and graduated first in his class.
Marshall served as chief legal counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and was instrumental in dismantling segregation in education through the landmark case Brown v. The Board of Education. He was later cemented in Black history when he was appointed as the first African American U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
“Thurgood Marshall was an exceptional litigator who utilized his legal expertise to break down the barriers of segregation,” Senior Advisor of Art & Culture Tonya Miller Hall said. “He was a prominent public figure who not only represented his hometown of Baltimore but the entire nation. It is a great privilege for us to have his portrait on view at City Hall.”
According to a press release from the mayor’s office, the 150-year-old former elementary school building is undergoing renovations led by Dr. Alvin Hathaway, former Union Baptist Church Pastor and president/CEO of Beloved Community Services Corporation. Hathaway commissioned Shaw to create the portrait of Marshall.
“Justice Thurgood Marshall should be to Baltimore as Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. is to Atlanta,” Hathaway said. “As someone who dedicated their lives to dismantling racism and uplifting the Black community, especially in Baltimore, it is only right that we honor him in this way for his 115th birthday.”
Shaw was deeply moved to have been tapped for the honor.
“It is a blessing and an honor to be given the opportunity to honor the ancestors with the gift of image making,” Shaw said. “It is important that we continually pay homage to those who dedicated their lives to fighting for justice and equality for Blacks. Thurgood Marshall paved the way for so many of us and I am truly honored to have been asked to create something in commemoration of such a prominent figure in Baltimore’s Black history.”
