Law in Popular Culture
Laurence Fishburne Portrays Thurgood Marshall
Posted Apr 28, 2008, 08:10 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Actor Laurence Fishburne says he knew little about Justice Thurgood Marshall’s early career as a civil rights lawyer before he read the script for the play Thurgood.
“My only real knowledge of him was that he was the first black man appointed to the United States Supreme Court,” Fishburne told the New York Times.
Now Fishburne hopes his portrayal of the late justice in a one-man show will help educate others, the Times story says. Fishburne said a play he saw on a high-school field trip helped teach him about the black actor, singer and activist Paul Robeson. He hopes he will inspire others the way the Robeson play inspired him.
Thurgood opens Wednesday at New York’s Booth Theater.