They [the Framers of Constitution] meant to set up a standard maxim for free society, which should be familiar to all, and revered by all; constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and even though never attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence, and augmenting happiness and value of life to all peoples of all colors everywhere. (Abraham Lincoln, quoted in Basler, 1953, p. 405-406)YOU SHALL PREVAILHad Thurgood Marshall's accomplishments been limited to his victory in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), his stature as a great American would have been just and enduring. So important was Brown that Marshall did not need appointment to Supreme Court to achieve greatness. It is not too much to say that High Court needed Thurgood Marshall more than he needed Court. There was much more to man than this case, more before 1954 and more after. Nevertheless, it does no disservice to his memory to see enormous achievement of Brown as a metaphor for his life and extrude from this revolutionary case Marshall's vision of America. Indeed, it honors America to view case as a metaphor for what America can stand for when it transcends its racist past.Thurgood Marshall's victory was much more than vindication of a life in service to concept of equal justice under law. It was a vindication of Lincoln's understanding of Constitution. It was a vindication of America. Yet, as Lincoln prophesied, the augmenting of happiness and value of life to all peoples of all colors everywhere will never be perfectly attained. The struggle continues.It would be easy to become despondent as one listens to din of racist rhetoric which assaults airwaves, yellows print media, and calls forth Nazi-like hysteria from college audiences. Less virulent, but troubling nonetheless, was a recent experience in my own class on constitutional law. For first time in my 20 years of teaching, a student of mine, a White female, argued forthrightly and forcibly for a segregated society, placing special emphasis on public schools. Shrewdly and ironically, student quoted only African American sources to support her conclusion that U.S. schools would be better able to deliver educational services if races did not confront each other. Of course, majority of class rebutted her, often with surprising eloquence; nevertheless, discussion revealed deep reservations among Black and White students that an integrated society was not possible, even if it were desirable. This, 40 years after Brown!It would be easy to despair but wrong--wrong because doing so fails to live up to American optimism, because it denies wisdom of Lincoln, and because it dishonors vision of Thurgood Marshall, who had far more reason to despair but indulged himself less. To complex depths of his being, Marshall felt outrage, obscene assault on human dignity, of racial segregation. His response was to right wrong, spending little time despairing over it. In process, he wrote himself into an honored place in American history. What could be more American than that?Even before we examine substance of Brown, before we draw from it a vision of American life, we see that Thurgood Marshall imbued it with perhaps most characteristic of American virtues: If something is wrong, fix it. If it is difficult to fix, start now. If there are no tools readily available, fashion new ones. If you meet resistance, persevere and overcome. Above all, trust in your ability to outwork, outstay, and outsmart enemies of justice. Do all this and you shall prevail. Do all this and you will prevail upon American Dream to bring itself into greater actuality. Do all this and you, at very least, will live dream by embodying it within yourself. Thurgood Marshall prevailed.I gotta argue these cases, and if I try this approach [relying upon generalities], those fellows [Justices Douglas and Frankfurter] will shoot me down in flames. …