Thurgood Marshall Letters Reveal Importance of Grassroots Activism

It is unsurprising that Thurgood Marshall, pioneering civil rights attorney, head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s (NAACP) Legal Defense Fund (LDF) and Supreme Court justice, is best known for his legislative and courtroom advocacy. A collection of letters, housed in the Burnham-Nobles Digital Archive, however, reveal much about Marshall’s integrated approach to advocacy, giving precedence to collective action and grassroots organizing.