I am Thurgood Marshall
From Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum · 2021
Summary
Brad wants to quit when things get hard, but meeting a young Thurgood Marshall — who fought all the way to the Supreme Court to end school segregation — shows him that persistence pays off. The episode (which also features Rosa Parks) explores how lawyers and the justice system can change society.
Viewer safety
Discusses racial segregation in age-appropriate terms.
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Discussion
Thurgood Marshall argued civil-rights cases all the way to the Supreme Court.
- What is a lawyer? How did Thurgood Marshall use his skills to help people?
- Why is it important to have laws that protect everyone equally?
- Thurgood Marshall later became a Supreme Court Justice. What does a justice do?
- What would you do if you thought a rule was unfair and you couldn't fix it alone?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: justice, Supreme Court, segregation, equal rights, lawyer.
Try it: Imagine you are a lawyer. Write a three-sentence argument for why every student in your school should have equal access to the library.