Who was the US Supreme Court justice who crusaded for equality for African-Americans?

Answer 1

Justice Thurgood Marshall (1967-1991)

Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Justice appointed to the US Supreme Court, was Founder and Chief Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in 1954, and argued Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka before the high court twice -- once in 1952 and once in 1953.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, (1954) was a landmark Supreme Court case that addressed the unconstitutionality of segregation in education, held to be a 14th Amendment violation of the Equal Protection Clause. When the Court, lead by Chief Justice, unanimously held in favor of the plaintiff, the ruling overturned the Court's decision in Plessy v. Furguson, which declared "separate but equal" to be constitutional.

Although Marshall is best known for his leadership in Brown, it was not the first case he presented to the Supreme Court. In 1940, Marshall successfully argued Chambers v. Florida, 309 U.S. 227 (1940), a case involving criminal confessions extracted under duress, a violation of the 5th Amendment Due Process Clause.

Marshall argued a total of 32 cases before the Supreme Court and won 29 times, an outstanding record.

President Lyndon Johnson nominated Marshall as an Associate Justice to the Supreme Court in 1967, and he was confirmed by a Senate vote of 69-11 on August 31. Marshall served from 1967-1991, and died on January 24, 1993, at the age of 84.