Thurgood Marshall
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Object Details
- Artist
- Betsy Graves Reyneau, 1888 - 1964
- Sitter
- Thurgood Marshall, 2 Jul 1908 - 24 Jan 1993
- Exhibition Label
- Born Baltimore, Maryland
- Thurgood Marshall played a major role in the 1940s and 1950s as a leader in the struggle to end racial discrimination in the United States. From 1938 to 1961, he served as chief staff lawyer for the NAACP. Marshall devoted much effort to tailoring arguments that led the Supreme Court to its unanimous 1954 Brown v. the Board of Education of the City of Topeka decision, which ruled segregation of public schools by race to be unconstitutional. But he realized the struggle was not over. At a party celebrating the Brown decision, Marshall warned his colleagues, “I don’t want any of you to fool yourselves, it’s just begun; the fight has just begun.” He went on to become the first African American Supreme Court justice, nominated by President Lyndon Johnson in 1967.
- Nacido en Baltimore, Maryland
- Thurgood Marshall tuvo un papel esencial en las décadas de 1940 y 1950 como líder en la lucha contra la discriminación racial en Estados Unidos. De 1938 a 1961 fue el abogado principal de la Asociación Nacional para el Progreso de las Personas de Color (NAACP en inglés), y como tal defendió a los demandantes en el caso Brown vs. Junta de Educación de la Ciudad de Topeka, formulando los argumentos que en 1954 llevaron al Tribunal Supremo a decidir por unanimidad que la segregación racial de las escuelas públicas era inconstitucional. No obstante, Marshall sabía que la lucha no había terminado. En una fiesta donde celebraban la decisión de Brown, advirtió a sus colegas: “No quiero que nadie se engañe aquí, esto apenas empieza; la pelea no ha hecho más que empezar”. Años más tarde, Marshall pasó a ser el primer juez afroamericano del Tribunal Supremo de Estados Unidos, nominado por el presidente Lyndon Johnson en 1967.
- Provenance
- Harmon Foundation; gift 1967 to NPG.
- Collection Description
- The Harmon Foundation, a philanthropic organization based in New York City (active 1922–1967), included this portrait in their exhibition Portraits of Outstanding Americans of Negro Origin, which opened at the Smithsonian in 1944 and documented noteworthy African Americans’ contributions to the country. Modeling their goal of social equality, the Harmon sought portraits from African American artist Laura Wheeler Waring and Euro-American artist Betsy Graves Reyneau. The two painters followed the conventional codes of academic portraiture, seeking to convey their sitters’ extraordinary accomplishments. This painting, along with a variety of educational materials, toured nation-wide for ten years, serving as a visual rebuttal to racism.
- La Harmon Foundation, entidad filantrópica con sede en la ciudad de Nueva York (activa entre 1922 y 1967), incluyó este retrato en Portraits of Outstanding Americans of Negro Origin (Retratos de estadounidenses destacados de origen negro), una exposición inaugurada en la Smithsonian en 1944 que documentó las aportaciones de afroamericanos notables al país. A tono con sus ideales de igualdad social, la fundación encargó retratos a la artista afroamericana Laura Wheeler Waring y a la euroamericana Betsy Graves Reyneau. Ambas adoptaron los códigos convencionales del retrato académico para comunicar en sus obras los logros extraordinarios de sus modelos. Esta pintura, junto con diversos materiales educativos, viajó por la nación durante diez años planteando una impugnación visual del racismo.
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the Harmon Foundation
- 1956
- Object number
- NPG.67.43
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Copyright
- © Peter Edward Fayard
- Type
- Painting
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Stretcher: 127 x 81.3 x 5.1cm (50 x 32 x 2")
- Frame: 137.2 x 91.4 x 5.1cm (54 x 36 x 2")
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Location
- Currently not on view
- National Portrait Gallery
- Topic
- Personal Attribute\Facial Hair\Mustache
- Costume\Jewelry\Ring\Wedding Band
- Thurgood Marshall: Male
- Thurgood Marshall: Law and Crime\Lawyer
- Thurgood Marshall: Law and Crime\Judge\Justice\US Supreme Court Justice
- Thurgood Marshall: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist\Civil rights activist
- Thurgood Marshall: Presidential Medal of Freedom
- Portrait
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.67.43
- Metadata Usage (text)
- Usage conditions apply
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm47c490e95-1a32-48aa-8c63-d504001ed225
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