| |
Thurgood Marshall graduated cum laude with a bachelor's degree from Lincoln University in 1930. Lincoln University in rural Pennsylvania, is one of the nation's oldest Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The school was chartered in 1854 as the Ashmun Institute and described by one of its early presidents as "the first institution found anywhere in the world to provide a higher education in the arts and sciences for male youth of African descent." It was renamed after President Abraham Lincoln in 1866. Among Lincoln's distinguished graduates were Marshall's classmate Langston Hughes; musician Cab Calloway; Kwame Nkrumah, first leader of an independent Ghana; and Nnamdi Azikiwe, first president of Nigeria.
At Lincoln, Marshall's interest in civil rights and the law deepened and he became a star member of the school's debating team, which competed against teams from such powerhouse institutions as Harvard University and Britain's Cambridge University. Marshall also met and married Vivian Burey in 1929, then a student at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
Photo Above:
Thurgood Marshall while he was a student at Lincoln University. The photo is Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity pledges (Marshall is 2nd from right in middle row). Click image to enlarge
Source:
Lincoln University of PA Archives, Langston Hughes Memorial Library
|
|
