Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect (PBS image)
June 19, 2025
Maryland Public Television Sept. 9 will release Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect, a new documentary exploring the life and legacy of Thurgood Marshall, the nation’s first African American Supreme Court Justice, at 10 p.m. ET on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS app.
The documentary follows Justice Marshall’s journey from his birth in Baltimore, Md., in 1908 through his years at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) Lincoln University and Howard University School of Law, and his groundbreaking career as a lawyer championing civil rights and dismantling school segregation.
Marshall won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, including the landmark Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, invalidating the separate but equal doctrine and ending racial segregation in public schools. In 1967, Marshall became the first African American appointed to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect includes exclusive interviews with family members, leading historians and authors, and legal experts who offer fresh insights into the life and extraordinary influence of the man who became known as “Mr. Civil Rights.”
The film will serve as the centerpiece of HBCU Week Now 2025, a public media partnership that offers content about the history, legacy, cultural heritage, and degree programs offered by America’s HBCUs. A collection of original long-form and short films, live events, and other HBCU-themed programming is available on the HBCU Week Now YouTube Channel @HBCUWeekNOW and its companion Instagram page and website (hbcuweeknow.com).
Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect will stream simultaneously with broadcast and be available on all station-branded PBS platforms including PBS.org, and the PBS app, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast, and Vizio.
Executive produced by Emmy Award-winning and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stanley Nelson and MPT SVP and chief content officer Travis Mitchell, the film is produced and directed by Alexis Aggrey, with music by two-time Grammy Award-winning composer Derrick Hodge.
“It was an honor to work on this film about an American titan whose legacy continues to expand and endure in these turbulent times,” executive producer Stanley Nelson said in a statement. “I’m pleased to again be partnering with Maryland Public Television on the heels of two other joint productions, Becoming Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom.”
“For the first time, audiences will hear Thurgood Marshall tell his own story — in his own words,” director and producer Alexis Aggrey said in a statement. “This film is the first to center Marshall’s own voice, drawn from a rare eight-hour oral history. It’s not just a documentary; it’s a conversation with a man whose legal mind reshaped the nation and whose legacy still echoes through our justice system today.”
“We are honored to be working with this amazing team of filmmakers to explore the extraordinary life of Justice Thurgood Marshall, one of Maryland’s most illustrious sons,” Travis Mitchell, executive producer and MPT SVP and chief content officer, said in a statement. “Justice Marshall’s journey from his Baltimore childhood to his education at HBCUs, from his groundbreaking legal career at the NAACP to his history-making appointment to the Supreme Court, is a story of almost unprecedented achievement and one we know that PBS viewers will find illuminating as well as inspiring.”
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