Opening paragraphs..........

Thurgood Marshall   Associate Justice
of the United States Supreme Court    1967-1991

Thurgood Marshall was born in 1908.  That year an African American named Jack Johnson knocked out Tommy Burns, the then world heavy-weight champion.  This was the first time a black man had taken the title away from a white man.  As soon as Johnson won, the search was on for the "great white hope" who could take the crown away from him.  For African Americans, Johnson's victory may have been the only joy they had that year.
-Howard Ball, A Defiant Life:  Thurgood Marshall
& The Persistence of Racism in America