By JOSEPH D. BOONE
Circa 1994
JDB: JUSTICE MARSHALL, THIS INTERVIEW IS BASED MAINLY ON YOUR INVOLVEMENT IN BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION. BUT I WOULD LIKE TO ASK A FEW BACKGROUND QUESTIONS IF YOU DON’T MIND. SIR, WHEN AND WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
JTM: I WAS BORN IN THE EARLY PART OF THIS CENTURY, IN 1908 TO BE EXACT, IN BALTIMORE, MD.
JDB: WHAT DID YOUR PARENTS DO FOR A LIVING AND WHAT WERE THEY LIKE AS PARENTS?
JTM: BOTH OF MY PARENTS WORKED. MY MOTHER WAS A SCHOOLTEACHER AND MY FATHER WAS A PULLMAN PORTER WHO LATER BECAME HEAD STEWARD AT A WEALTHY COUNTRY CLUB ON THE SHORES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY. MY PARENTS WERE HARDWORKING MIDDLE-CLASS, FOR THAT TIME, AMERICANS. THEY, LIKE OTHERS, WANTED THE BEST FOR ME AND WANTED ME TO DO MY BEST. I HOPE I ACHIEVED THAT GOAL.
JDB: WHAT WAS YOUR EDUCATION LIKE AND WERE DID YOU GO TO COLLEGE?
JTM: I ATTENDED ALL NEGRO SCHOOLS IN BALTIMORE; MOTHER, WHO WAS, AS I SAID A SCHOOLTEACHER, SUPPLEMENTED MY EDUCATION. I WENT TO AND GRADUATED FROM LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, A SMALL NEGRO SCHOOL IN PENNSYLVANIA. I WANTED TO GO TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND LAW SCHOOL BUT THEY WOULD NOT ADMIT NEGROES. SO I WENT TO AND GRADUATED FROM THE HOWARD UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL.
JDB: IS THE REASON WHY YOU FOUGHT FOR DESEGREGATION OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM BECAUSE YOU COULD NOT GET INTO THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND LAW SCHOOL?
JTM: PARTLY, BUT THE MAIN REASON WAS AND STILL IS BECAUSE IT WAS AND IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO. YOU MUST REMEMBER THAT WE WERE AND STILL ARE TALKING ABOUT BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS. AND NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, GOOD, BAD OR INDIFFERENT, IT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO. BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS IS JUST THAT BASIC, FUNDAMENTAL, NEVER CHANGING, HUMAN RIGHTS. WHILE IT MAY BE TRUE THAT LAWS AND CONSTITUTIONS DO NOT ACT TO RIGHT WRONG AND OVERTURN ESTABLISHED FOLKWAYS OVERNIGHT, IT IS ALSO TRUE THAT THE REAFFIRMATION OF THESE PRINCIPLES OF DEMOCRACY BUILDS A BODY OF PUBLIC OPINION IN WHICH RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES OF CITIZENSHIP MAY BE ENJOYED.
JDB: OK, BUT WHY DIDN’T YOUR TRY FIGHTING FOR THE “EQUAL” PART OF “SEPARATE BUT EQUAL”?
JTM: BECAUSE WHEN I JOINED THE NAACP's LEGAL TEAM IN 1936 THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THEY WERE DOING. ATTEMPTING TO INDUCE OR FORCE IMPROVEMENTS IN COLORED-ONLY FACILITIES. IN ADDITION, AS YOU KNOW TO NO AVAIL. RESISTANCE TO “EQUAL” WAS JUST AS BAD AS OUR RESISTANCE TO “SEPARATE”.
JDB: OK, SO HOW DID YOUR GO ABOUT FIGHTING THE “SEPARATE” INSTEAD OF THE “EQUAL”?
JTM: WE DEVISED THE STRATEGY OF FIRST PERSUADING A PATRONIZING WHITE JUDICIARY TO GRANT FAIR TREATMENT TO A SMALL AND UNTHREATENING CLASS OF COLORED PEOPLE: EXEMPLARY, EMINENTLY QUALIFIED APPLICANTS TO PUBLICLY FUNDED GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS. WE FOLLOWED THESE EARLY VICTORIES BY BROADENING OUR SCOPE UNTIL THEY FINALLY CULMINATED IN BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION, WHICH MANDATED AN END TO SEGREGATION IN ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND, FOR THE COURT AS AN INSTITUTION, EXPUNGED THE SHAME OF DRED SCOTT AND PLESSY v. FERGUSON.
JDB: LET ME GRANT YOU THAT WHAT YOU AND YOUR TEAM DID WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO. BUT IT, DESEGREGATION, STILL LEAVES US, NEGROES AS A WHOLE, WITH LITTLE TO BE THANKFUL FOR IN TERMS OF RESPECT AND BEING LOOKED UPON AS HUMAN BEINGS EQUAL TO ALL. WHAT HAPPENED?
JTM: YOU MUST REMEMBER THAT WE ARE DEALING WITH PEOPLE, HUMAN BEINGS, A NOT SO PERFECT SPECIMEN OF LIFE. AND AS LONG AS PEOPLE ARE STILL FEELING THEIR ANIMAL ANCESTRY OF FEAR, MISTRUST, AGGRESSION WILL DETERMINE A GOOD PART OF OUR BEHAVIOR. BUT WE ARE MOVING FORWARD, AT A SNAILS PACE PERHAPS, BUT FOREVER FORWARD. SOMETIMES TAKING A STEP BACKWARDS BUT ALWAYS MOVING FORWARD.
JDB: I WISH TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND INSIGHT INTO WHAT WENT INTO BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION. AND I WISH TO SAY THAT I THINK YOU ARE ONE OF THIS CENTURIES GREATEST HUMAN BEINGS.
JTM: AND THANK YOU.
PEACE.LOVE.HAPPINESS
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