When Thurgood Marshall—the great-grandson of a slave—was born, African Americans were denied equal rights in America. Segregation was legal. Lynching was common. In some places, African Americans were entirely excluded from public life; they were forbidden to enter public parks and museums or use public swimming pools and restrooms.

After being denied admission to the University of Maryland Law School because of his race, Marshall enrolled at Howard University. He graduated first in his class and set out as a young lawyer determined to achieve equality for all Americans. Here is the story of how he did it—how he devised his legal strategy for expanding “we the people” to include all people.

Thurgood Marshall explores his life, from his childhood in Baltimore to his trailblazing career as a civil-rights lawyer and, finally, to his years as a United States Supreme Court justice.