2006-03
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/28/2006
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Marshall's SignatureTobias' SignaturePage 2Page 3Page 4Page 5Page 6Page 7 MARSHALL, Thurgood (1908 - 1993) was an American jurist and the first African American to serve on the United States Supreme Court. In 1930, he applied to the University of Maryland Law School, but was denied admission because he was Black. This was an event that was to haunt him and direct his future professional life. Thurgood sought admission and was accepted at the Howard University Law School that same year. In 1936, Marshall began working for the NAACP, and later became the director of NAACP's Legal Defense and Education Fund. Marshall argued 32 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and won 29 of them. Marshall won his first Supreme Court case, Chambers v. Florida, 309 U.S. 227 (1940). That same year, at the age of 32, he was appointed Chief counsel for the NAACP. Marshall was the 1946 Spingarn Medal recipient. Marshall also argued and won Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which made segregation in public schools unconstitutional. In 1967, President Johnson nominated him to the U.S. Supreme Court, a position he held until his retirement in 1991. TOBIAS, Channing Heggie (1882 - 1961) Most of Tobias's career was devoted to the YMCA. After leaving the YMCA in 1946, he became the first black director of the Phelps-Stokes Fund, a foundation devoted to the improvement of educational opportunities for African Americans. President Truman appointed him to the Committee on Civil Rights in 1946. Tobias was the 1948 Spingarn Medal recipient. He retired in 1953. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the NAACP and elected its chairman in 1953. Thurgood Marshall and Channing Tobias Annotated / Signed Document. This seven page working typescript provides an outline for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) strategic agenda for 1953. At this time Marshall was Director of the NAACP's Legal Defense and Tobias was Chairman of NAACP's Board of Trustees. Page 1 displays both signatures, upper right "Thurgood Marshall," and left margin vertical, "Channing Tobias." Additionally, the outline is occasionally annotated in Marshall's hand. The outline is arranged with section headings titled, "In General," "Areas of Civil Rights," "Affirmative Action Against Discrimination," and "Federal Civil Rights Section." Each section further details the current status or strategy. For example, under "Physical Security" Marshall notes "No lynching in 1952, Why? A(nti)-L(ynching) Bill before Congress." He also lists the "Groveland case" in which Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall shot two handcuffed black men he said tried to escape. In another example, under "Federal Civil Rights Section," Marshall lists "Swimming pool cases," in St. Louis, Washington DC, and Kansas City, Mo. In same section under "Housing," Marshal states, "Segregation is the number one problem in civil rights today - residential segregation is nub of that problem." He then sights two cases, Buchanan v. Warley and Shelly v. Kraemer ( On May 3, 1948 the Supreme Court ruled that enforcement of racially restrictive housing covenants violates the 14th Amendment). Still under the "Federal Civil Rights Section," Marshall mentions "Polytechnic -- Baltimore" (On 13 September 1952, a decision was taken by the Baltimore City school board, without court action to admit a dozen Negro students to Polytechnic High School.) The outline closes with Marshall's commentary, in part, "Our claim to moral leadership in world affairs is based in large part upon our principles and practices of individual freedom and equality. This is perhaps our major contribution and our principle appeal to the world. Hence the eyes of all peoples are upon us in all we do or fail to do to advance freedom among our own people. No decision we make or fail to make, particularly in the area of racial equality, can ignore this direct impact upon our world position." An historically significant document, signed by two of the Civil Rights architects, circa 1953. Fine.
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