Who argued Brown v. Board of Education and later became the first African American Supreme Court Justice?

• A. Ralph Bunche
• B. Charles Hamilton Houston
• C. Constance Baker Motley
• D. Thurgood Marshall

Answer: (D)

The question tests knowledge of a pivotal civil rights figure who linked legal strategy to a historic transformation in American law and then broke a racial barrier on the Supreme Court. Thurgood Marshall led the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s team arguing Brown v. Board of Education before the Supreme Court in 1954, a case that challenged the legality of school segregation under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and led to the ruling that “separate but equal” facilities are inherently unequal. This work was a turning point in equal rights jurisprudence.

Marshall’s influence didn’t stop there. He later became the first African American to serve on the United States Supreme Court, appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson and serving from 1967 to 1991. His presence on the Court helped advance civil rights and liberties in constitutional interpretation.

Ralph Bunche was a diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, not a Brown v. Board advocate or a Supreme Court justice. Charles Hamilton Houston was a key organizer and strategist for the NAACP’s legal campaign, but he did not argue Brown before the Court. Constance Baker Motley was a prominent civil rights lawyer and judge who contributed to the legal battles, yet she did not become a Supreme Court Justice.