- Born Thoroughgood Marshall on July 2, 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland
- Graduated from Frederick Douglass High School in 1925
- Earned Bachelor of Arts in Humanities, majoring in Literature and Philosophy from Lincoln University in 1930
- Graduated magna cum laude, earning his degree in law, from Howard University School of Law in 1933
- Worked as assistant special counsel at National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Baltimore in 1936
- Successfully argued first civil rights case, Murray v. Pearson, in 1936
- Successfully argued first United States Supreme Court case, Chambers v. Florida, in 1940
- Director of NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund in 1940
- Successfully argued Smith v. Allwright in 1944
- Awarded Spingarn Medal in 1946
- Successfully argued Shelley v. Kraemer in 1948
- Successfully argued Sweatt v. Painter in 1950
- Successfully argued McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents in 1950
- Successfully argued Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954
- Appointed to the United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals by President John F. Kennedy in 1961.
- Appointed United States Solicitor General by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965
- First African-American appointed to Supreme Court in 1967
- Retired from the Supreme Court in 1991
- Received the Liberty Medal in 1992
- Received Presidential Medal of Freedom, posthumously, from President Bill Clinton in 1993
- Marshall died at the age of 84 years old on January 24, 1993