Vivian Burey Marshall

Vivian "Buster" Burey Marshall
Born Vivian Burey
(1911-02-11)February 11, 1911
Died February 11, 1955(1955-02-11) (aged 44)
Nationality United States
Other names Vivien Burey Marshall
Education University of Pennsylvania
Spouse(s) Thurgood Marshall

Vivian "Buster" Burey Marshall (February 11, 1911 – February 11, 1955) was an American civil rights activist and was married for 25 years until her death to Thurgood Marshall. Lead counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, who managed Brown v. Board of Education (1954), he was appointed as the first African-American U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

Keesha Sharp portrayed Burey in the 2017 movie Marshall.

Biography

Vivian Burey was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on February 11, 1911.[1] She grew up in a middle-class black family; her parents Christopher and Maud Burey worked in catering in the city.[2] She attended local schools.

She met Thurgood Marshall at age eighteen,[3][4][5] while she was a student at the University of Pennsylvania and he was a student at nearby Lincoln University.

They married on September 4, 1929, during Marshall's last year at Lincoln. Burey is credited with helping him become a better student.[6] He graduated cum laude and went on to graduate first in his law class at Howard University. [7] Upon meeting his family after they were engaged, she was warned by his uncle to avoid Marshall because he was a bum, and would "always be a bum."[6]

After Marshall graduated college in 1930, they moved to Baltimore where Burey worked as a secretary.[7] Burey had several miscarriages during her marriage and never had any children.[3] Her husband had some affairs.[5]

After Marshall completed law school, they moved to New York. In the mid-1940s he served as legal counsel for the NAACP, which was then based in New York. Burey also worked at the NAACP, alongside other civil rights activists such as Edward W. Jacko and Jawn A. Sandifer.[8]

In the 1950s, Burey was diagnosed with flu or pleurisy, but was sick for months. She eventually learned that she had lung cancer.[3] She hid her sickness from Marshall for months, as he was leading the case of Brown v. Board of Education at the US Supreme Court. After it ruled on May 17, 1954, she told Marshall about her illness.[7] Richard Kluger credits Burey with being one of two people who had been indirectly active but important influencers of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, in his book, Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America's Struggle for Equality (2011).[9] Burey died of lung cancer on February 11, 1955, her 44th birthday, after 25 years of marriage.[10]

Marshall remarried in December 1955, to Cecilia Suyat, a white woman who worked as a secretary at the NAACP headquarters.[11]

Legacy

Named in her memory, tThe Vivian Burey Marshall Academy was founded in 2016 as a program of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. It pairs students with U.S. Army scientists and engineers to encourage their studies in STEM. [12] It serves students grades 6-10 in the Baltimore, Maryland and Vicksburg, Mississippi areas with a focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning programs.[13]

The 2017 movie Marshall, is a Thurgood Marshall biopic about his early career, directed by Reginald Hudlin. It featured Keesha Sharp as Burey.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "The Marshall Movie vs. the True Story of Thurgood Marshall and the Joseph Spell Case". HistoryvsHollywood.com. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
  2. ↑ Gibson, Larry S. (2012). Young Thurgood: The Making of a Supreme Court Justice. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1616145722.
  3. 1 2 3 "All About Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall". ThoughtCo. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
  4. 1 2 "Vivian "Buster" Burey, portrayed by Keesha Sharp - 'Marshall': 8 of the Film's Stars and Their Real-Life Inspirations". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
  5. 1 2 Horn, Geoffrey M. (2004). Thurgood Marshall. Gareth Stevens. ISBN 9780836850987.
  6. 1 2 Roberts, Sanford (May 7, 1993). "Thurgood Marshall in his own words" (PDF). Executive Intelligence Review (EIR). Executive Intelligence Review. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  7. 1 2 3 Starks, Glenn L.; Brooks, F. Erik (2012-04-06). Thurgood Marshall: A Biography: A Biography. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313349171.
  8. ↑ Crawford, Malachi D. (2015). Black Muslims and the Law: Civil Liberties from Elijah Muhammad to Muhammad Ali. Lexington Books. p. 50. ISBN 073918489X – via Google Books.
  9. ↑ Kluger, Richard (2011). Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America's Struggle for Equality. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 73. ISBN 030754608X – via Google Books.
  10. ↑ Brock, Paul (1993-02-01). "The Birth of An Ugly Notion". The Crisis. The Crisis Publishing Company, Inc. and NAACP. Vol. 100 (No. 2): 32. ISSN 0011-1422 – via Google Books.
  11. ↑ Brown, DeNeen L. (2016-08-18). "Thurgood Marshall's interracial love: 'I don't care what people think. I'm marrying you.'". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
  12. ↑ "Vivian Burey Marshall Academy | Thurgood Marshall College Fund". Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
  13. ↑ "Vicksburg tapped for STEM project". The Vicksburg Post. 2016-01-08. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
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