This week in Black history

Thurgood Marshall, U.S. solicitor general, became the first Black associate justice of the Supreme Court on this day when he was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. He served from 1967 through 1991. Marshall's stellar legal reputation was won early as a specialist in civil rights cases. As special counsel for the NAACP and counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, he argued 32 cases before the Supreme Court, one of which led to the 1954 high court ruling declaring racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional. Marshall, who was born in Baltimore on July 2, 1908, earned his law degree from Howard University Law School in 1933. He was admitted to the Maryland Bar that year and practiced privately in Baltimore until 1937. He was appointed the first Black United States solicitor general in 1965. In that post, he supervised and conducted government litigation before the Supreme Court. Marshall died January 24, 1993, in Bethesda, MD.

June 15, 1877--

Henry O. Flipper became the first Black graduate of West Point Military Academy on this day. Flipper attended Atlanta University where he received an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy, West Point. He received his commission as second lieutenant and was assigned to the Black 10th Cavalry Regiment in 1878. Flipper served with distinction, even designing a ditch that helped to reduce malaria among the troops, but in November 1881 he was accused of embezzling funds. Although Flipper was acquitted of embezzlement, he was found guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer and dishonorably discharged in 1882. From that moment until his death in 1940, he tried to vindicate himself; however, in 1976 a probe indicated officers had framed him, so he was posthumously granted an honorable discharge. On the 100th anniversary of his graduation, West Point unveiled a bust in honor of him.