BS: Thurgood..or why I watch TV

Subject: BS: Thurgood..or why I watch TV
From: catspaw49
Date: 14 Mar 11 - 02:19 PM

Yeah.....I like TV. I know a lot of you see no reason or purpose in it and skip the whole thing. However, myself and others have more often than not found some wonderful and educational programing and shows we are (I guess foolishly to some of you) happy to have seen. Recently on HBO I watched and recorded Thurgood, a one man show about Thurgood Marshall. It is easily the finest one man show I have seen and equals Hal Holbrook's Mark Twain.

Laurence Fishburne is simply outstanding in "becoming" Thurgood Marshall. It is obviously a labor of love as he commands the stage for almost two hours with true passion. Well written to be sure but Fishburne brings us the spirit of the man and does it well. I would love to have seen this live on stage.

Its about time that something was done to celebrate the life of Thurgood Marshall. Someone once wrote that we have books and movies about Malcolm X and MLK and even a special holiday to honor King......but we live every day with the legacy of Thurgood Marshall and many don't even realize it.

If you have some other means to see this fine program, do it! You will not be disappointed.


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Thurgood..or why I watch TV
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 14 Mar 11 - 03:06 PM

I don't watch, but not because 'I see no reason or purpose in it,' but because I have bad vision and sensitive hearing, and it just plain bothers me.

That's all.

Thanks for the tip about the program.

Subject: RE: BS: Thurgood..or why I watch TV
From: GUEST,999
Date: 14 Mar 11 - 03:11 PM

A Thurgood Marshall timeline: provided by A Deeper Shade of Black .



1930

Mr. Marshall graduates with honors from Lincoln U. (cum laude)

1933

Receives law degree from Howard U. (magna cum laude); begins private practice in Baltimore

Receives law degree from Howard U. (magna cum laude); begins private practice in Baltimore

1934

Begins to work for Baltimore branch of NAACP

1935

With Charles Houston, wins first major civil rights case, Murray v. Pearson

1936

Becomes assistant special counsel for NAACP in New York

1940

Wins first of 29 Supreme Court victories (Chambers v. Florida)

1944

Successfully argues Smith v. Allwright, overthrowing the South's "white primary"

1948

Wins Shelley v. Kraemer, in which Supreme Court strikes down legality of racially restrictive covenants

1950

Wins Supreme Court victories in two graduate-school integration cases, Sweatt v. Painter and McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents

1951

Visits South Korea and Japan to investigate charges of racism in U.S. armed forces. He reported that the general practice was one of "rigid segregation".

1954

Wins Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, landmark case that demolishes legal basis for segregation in America

1961

Defends civil rights demonstrators, winning Supreme Circuit Court victory in Garner v. Louisiana; nominated to Second Court of Appeals by President J.F. Kennedy

1961

Appointed circuit judge, makes 112 rulings, all of them later upheld by Supreme Court (1961-1965)

965

Appointed U.S. solicitor general by President Lyndon Johnson; wins 14 of the 19 cases he argues for the government (1965-1967)

1967

Becomes first African American elevated to U.S. Supreme Court (1967-1991)

1991

Retires from the Supreme Court

1993

Dies at 84

Subject: RE: BS: Thurgood..or why I watch TV
From: catspaw49
Date: 14 Mar 11 - 04:35 PM

Thanks Bruce......and the play covers all of that and more with some great stories along the way.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Thurgood..or why I watch TV
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 14 Mar 11 - 05:37 PM

L.A. Times review of the stage show

About Thurgood, on HBO, filmed at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater in Washington, D.C.

This is stuff I wish was PBS so the little people could afford to watch it too. Maybe via Netflix, eventually.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: BS: Thurgood..or why I watch TV
From: Wesley S
Date: 14 Mar 11 - 06:19 PM

I've recorded it but haven't watched it yet. From what I've heard it sounds like every school library deserves a copy once it's released on DVD.

Subject: RE: BS: Thurgood..or why I watch TV
From: Little Hawk
Date: 14 Mar 11 - 06:28 PM

Sounds like a darn good show, Spaw. I am now torn between my desire to see it and my desire to rip the guts out of every TV I see and turn it into a plantholder. ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Thurgood..or why I watch TV
From: katlaughing
Date: 14 Mar 11 - 06:50 PM

Well shoot. I checked Netflix and they do have one called "Thurgood - Justice for All" but it came out in the 90s starring his son, which would be neat to watch I am sure, but, based on your recommendation Pat, I will definitely watch for the one you've told us about. Thank you.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Thurgood..or why I watch TV
From: GUEST,999
Date: 14 Mar 11 - 07:12 PM

Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds.

Thurgood Marshall


And the following--which I have used for years never knowing until now that it was Thurgood Marshall's:


I have a lifetime appointment and I intend to serve it. I expect to die at 110, shot by a jealous husband.

Thurgood Marshall


Thanks for this thread, Pat.

Subject: RE: BS: Thurgood..or why I watch TV
From: catspaw49
Date: 14 Mar 11 - 10:23 PM

I have a lifetime appointment and I intend to serve it. I expect to die at 110, shot by a jealous husband.

.......They used it in the script and Fishburne gave it that wicked but jovial inflection that was exactly right. Interestingly, the show ends with him saying that he would not want to be replaced by another man simply "because he was a Negro".......a line delivered with a beautiful side glance as if we all get the pathetic joke that Clarence Thomas is and tailed with the words of his father: "My Daddy taught me there was no difference between a white snake and a black snake---they both bite."

He leaves the stage with the words of former classmate Langston Hughes ringing loudly....."America will be.!" They used an excerpt from Hughes' long poem but it is exactly right for the ending of the show.

Just before that, Thurgood says he will only stop being involved in the fight "when the following happens:"

A commuter train is coming down through Connecticut picking up passengers and somewhere around Fairfield a well dressed Negro gets on. He's wearing his Brooks Brothers suit, derby hat, attache case with just the right amount of wear, and a Wall Street Journal under his arm. He boards and takes a seat. A few stops along and the car is almost filled when an obviously rich woman gets on and realizes the only seat left is by the Negro. She sits down and after awhile she simply can stand it no more and shouts out, "NIGGER--NIGGER--NIGGER!!!" The black guy leaps to his feet and screams, "WHERE--WHERE--WHERE???"

This is just a wonderful "warts, truth, and all" of a great man who lived on the front line of the American Civil Rights movement. Without a Thurgood Marshall there wouldn't have been a Civil Rights movement.   You'll get a charge out of his remarks about MLK....trust me.


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Thurgood..or why I watch TV
From: GUEST,999
Date: 14 Mar 11 - 10:29 PM

"Until his retirement from the highest court in the land, Justice Marshall established a record for supporting the voiceless American. Having honed his skills since the case against the University of Maryland, he developed a profound sensitivity to injustice by way of the crucible of racial discrimination in this country. As an Associate Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall leaves a legacy that expands that early sensitivity to include all of America's voiceless. Justice Marshall died on January 24, 1993."


Kinda neat have that said about ya when yer outta the room, huh?