Root and Branch : Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, and the Struggle to End Segregation

Although widely viewed as the beginning of the legal struggle to end segregation, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision Brown v. Board of Education was in fact the culmination of decades of legal challenges led by a band of lawyers intent on dismantling segregation one statute at a time. Root and Branch is the compelling story of the fiercely committed lawyers that constructed the legal foundation for what we now call the civil rights movement. Charles Hamilton Houston laid the groundwork, reinventing the law school at Howard University (where he taught a young, brash Thurgood Marshall) and becoming special counsel to the NAACP. Later Houston and Marshall traveled through the hostile South, looking for cases with which to dismantle America's long-systematized racism, often at great personal risk. The abstemious, buttoned-down Houston and the folksy, easygoing Marshall made an unlikely pair-but their accomplishments in bringing down Jim Crow made an unforgettable impact on U.S. legal history. The riveting story of the two crusading lawyers who led the legal battle to end segregation, one case and one courtroom at a time. The Supreme Courts decision in Brown v. Board of Education is widely considered a seminal point in the battle to end segregation, but it was in fact the culmination of a decades-long legal campaign. Root and Branch is the epic story of the two fiercely dedicated lawyers who led the fight from county courthouses to the marble halls of the Supreme Court, and, in the process, laid the legal foundations of the civil rights movement. Charles Hamilton Houston was the After becoming the first African-American on the Harvard Law Review , he transformed the law school at all-black Howard University into a West Point for civil rights advocacy. One of Houstons students at Howard was a brash young man named Thurgood Marshall. Soon after Marshalls graduation, Houston and Marshall opened the NAACPs legal office. The abstemious, proper Houston and the folksy, easygoing Marshall made an unlikely duo, but together they faced down angry Southern mobs, negotiated with presidents and senators, and convinced even racist judges and juries that the Constitution demanded equal justice under law for all American citizens. Houston, tragically, would die before his strategy came to fruition in the Brown suit, but Marshall would argue the case victoriously and go on to become the first African-American Supreme Court justicealways crediting his mentor for teaching him everything he knew. Together, the two advocates changed the course of American history. Southern justice on trial Ambitious, successful, hopeful dreams No tea for the feeble The social engineers South journey children The law offices of Thurgood Marshall, Esq. Murray v. the University of Maryland Don't shout too soon Special counsel and assistant counsel On the cusp in Kansas City An outside man Hope looms Marshall at the helm Greenwich railroad bones War home and abroad Supreme broken covenant Peace of mind Root and branch. "The Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education is widely considered the milestone victory of the civil rights movement, but it was only the culmination of a decades-long legal campaign, brilliantly and relentlessly waged. 'Root and Branch' is the epic story of the two fiercely dedicated lawyers who led that fight, from county courthouses to the marble halls of the Supreme Court"--Page 2 of cover. "Although widely viewed as the beginning of the legal struggle to end segregation, the Brown v. Board of Education decision was in fact the culmination of decades of court challenges led by a band of lawyers intent on dismantling Jim Crow one statue at a time." The stirring history of the legal fight to end segregation, and the unlikely partnership of legal pioneers Thurgood Marshall and Charles Hamilton Houston