Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025 at 8 p.m. on KPBS 2 / Stream with KPBS+
"Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect," explores the life and legacy of Thurgood Marshall, the visionary lawyer and civil rights leader who became the first Black justice on the United States Supreme Court. Drawing from rare archival recordings, personal photographs, and exclusive interviews, the film offers an intimate and timely portrait of a man who reshaped American democracy.
With a combination of oral history, animation, and evocative sound design, "Becoming Thurgood" brings Marshall’s story to life not as myth, but as a man of action — strategic, courageous, and deeply committed to justice. Through his work, Marshall held the nation accountable to its founding promises, redefined what was possible through the law, and helped move America closer to its highest ideals.
The film traces Marshall’s journey from his birth in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1908 to his formative years at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Lincoln University and Howard University School of Law to his groundbreaking career as a lawyer championing civil rights and dismantling segregation.
Marshall won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, including the landmark Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, invalidating the “separate but equal doctrine” and ending racial segregation in public schools. But the decision was met with “massive resistance” across the South and continued to be fought in the courts for decades.
“When there are changes happening in your country, when there’s unrest, when there’s unfairness, people look to lawyers for the answer,” says Sherrilyn Ifill, Howard University School of Law. “So law and lawyers are very important tools in the toolbox of the very long, many hundred years quest of Black people to be free and full citizens in this country.”
Watch On Your Schedule: "Becoming Thurgood: America's Social Architect" will be available to stream with KPBS+ through Oct. 8, 2025.
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Credits: Executive produced by Emmy Award-winning and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stanley Nelson and Maryland Public Television Senior Vice President and Chief Content Officer Travis Mitchell, the film is produced and directed by Alexis Aggrey, with music by two-time Grammy Award-winning composer Derrick Hodge.
