The first African American appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States was Thurgood Marshall. He was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson on June 13, 1967, and confirmed by the Senate on August 30, 1967, by a vote of 69–11. Marshall took the constitutional oath and officially became the first African American justice on October 2, 1967
. Before his appointment, Marshall was a distinguished civil rights lawyer, famously winning the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional. He also served as a federal judge and as U.S. Solicitor General. His appointment marked a historic milestone in the fight against racial discrimination and brought a strong civil rights perspective to the Supreme Court
