Cecilia Suyat Marshall Oral History Interview

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

The oral history consists of six digital files: 2011.174.97.1a, 2011.174.97.1b, 2011.174.97.1c, 2011.174.97.1d, 2011.174.97.1e, and 2011.174.97.1f. Cecilia Suyat Marshall recalls moving from Hawaii to New York where she found a job as a secretary with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1948. Marshall notes some of the highlights of her experiences at the NAACP offices, including the organization's victory in the Brown v. Board case, traveling the South with NAACP staff, and attending conferences. There she met the many local people who gave the Civil Rights Movement strength. She left the organization after her marriage to Justice Thurgood Marshall, and with that departure became more of a mother and wife than an activist, but retained her activist spirit with membership on the boards of progressive organizations.

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