Thurgood Marshall was one of the most well-known lawyers in the history of civil rights in America. He became the first director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. (LDF) in 1940 and remained in that position for 21 years. In 1954, Marshall and his legal team prevailed in the landmark Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS, that struck down segregation in public schools. President Kennedy appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He served on that court until 1965, when President Johnson appointed him the first African-American solicitor general of the United States. Marshall made history again in 1967, when he was sworn in as the first African-American justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. His 24-year tenure was marked by his commitment to defending constitutional rights and affirmative action and by his strong opposition to the death penalty. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom-our country's highest civilian honor-on November 30, 1993.