Thurgood Marshall & Channing Tobias 1953 NAACP Action Outline

“Our claim to moral leadership in world affairs is based in large part upon our principles and practices of individual freedom and equality. This is perhaps our major contribution and our principle appeal to the world. Hence the eyes of all peoples are upon us in all we do or fail to do to advance freedom among our own people. No decision we make or fail to make, particularly in the area of racial equality, can ignore this direct impact upon our world position.” (from Marshall’s closing commentary)

Divided into sections including Areas of Civil Rights, Affirmative Action Against Discrimination, and Federal Civil Rights. Under Physical Security, Marshall notes No lynching in 1952, Why? A[nti]-L[ynching] Bill before Congress. He lists the Groveland case (in which a sheriff shot two handcuffed black men he alleged were trying to escape), Swimming pool segregation cases in St. Louis, Washington, D.C., and Kansas City, and housing cases. Marshal states, “Segregation is the number one problem in civil rights today - residential segregation is nub of that problem.” He cites two cases in which the Supreme Court ruled that enforcement of racially restrictive housing covenants violates the 14th Amendment.

“the eyes of all peoples are upon us in all we do or fail to do to advance freedom among our own people”

Thurgood Marshall argued 32 cases before the Supreme Court, winning 29, including the 1954 landmark Brown v. Board of Education. In 1967, President Johnson nominated him to become the first African American justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

★ Document signed by Thurgood Marshall, as Director and Channing Tobias as Chairman, c. 1953. With Marshall’s handwritten annotations. #20816