Annapolis

Thurgood Marshall Memorial (1996)
by Antonio Tobias Mendez
Thurgood Marshall became the first African American U.S. Supreme Court Justice in 1967. Infront of Marshall's statue, rests two sculpture groups that represent court cases that Marshall worked on while a lawyer for the National Association for the Advancement for Colored People (NAACP). To Thurgood Marshall's right, a figure of Donald Gaines Murray, the first African American to attend University of Maryland's Law School, rests on a bench facing the judge. On the second bench, to Marshall's left, the two school children represent school integration that resulted from Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka.

Written on the six columns that lie behind the judge is "Equal Justice Under Law." Why do you think this phrase is associated with Thurgood Marshall?