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Mikulski, Cardin Introduce Bill to Make Thurgood Marshall's Elementary School a Nationals Historic Site

Date: Feb. 27, 2015
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: K-12 Education Arts, Entertainment, and History

U.S. Senators Barbara A. Mikulski and Ben Cardin (both D-Md.) today introduced the Thurgood Marshall's Elementary School Study Act (S. 610) to honor the legacy of civil rights champion, Supreme Court Justice and Baltimorean Thurgood Marshall. The legislation would recognize his alma matter, Public School 103 in West Baltimore, as a National Historic Site.

"Thurgood Marshall was a tireless fighter for equality," Senator Mikulski said. "From his days as a young lawyer to serving as Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall was a courageous fighter and tireless in his commitment to right injustices and fighting racial discrimination. I am proud to introduce this legislation that will make P.S.103 in Baltimore a National Historic Site, and serve as an inspiration to generations of young Baltimore students to come."

"Thurgood Marshall was not always known as a civil rights champion and gifted legal mind, he was once a student living and learning in West Baltimore," said Senator Cardin, a senior member of the Environment and Public Works Committee. "The stories, though they may be apocryphal, of Marshall reading the Constitution in the basement of P.S. 103 during detention typify the American Dream. Preserving P.S. 103 would be not only a fitting tribute to a great Marylander, but also an enduring symbol of the importance of education in shaping great Americans."

The bill would instruct the Secretary of the Interior to study the feasibility of including P.S. 103 as a unit of the National Park System. The bill would also call on the Secretary of the Interior to study means by which public and private groups could contribute to the preservation of the historically significant site.

Baltimore currently has two historical sites managed by the National Park Service: Fort McHenry and the Hampton Mansion. Adding P.S. 103 is an opportunity for the National Park Service to reach out and engage people about African-American history.


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