Retired Justice Marshall Honored With Liberty Medal
The fourth annual Liberty Medal was awarded Saturday to Thurgood Marshall, a retired U.S. Supreme Court justice and a pioneering civil rights lawyer.
The 84-year-old Marshall, who retired from the court last year, accepted the $100,000 award at Independence Hall as part of a weekend celebration of the 216th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in the city where it was written and signed.
Marshall was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1967 and served as its first black justice.
Speaking from a wheelchair, Justice Marshall called on America to rise above racial despair. “I wish I could say that racism and prejudice were only distant memories . . . but as I look around I see that even educated whites and African-Americans have given up on integration and lost hope in equality.
“The legal system can open doors and knock down walls, but it cannot build bridges. That job belongs to you and me.”
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