[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 61 (Wednesday, May 11, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E940]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IS RENAMED IN HONOR OF 
                       JUSTICE THURGOOD MARSHALL

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENJAMIN L. CARDIN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 11, 2005

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to ask my colleagues to join me in 
recognizing an important day in Maryland history. Yesterday, in 
Annapolis, legislation was signed into law renaming our State's largest 
airport the ``Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall 
Airport.''
  Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1908 and educated in our State's 
public school system, Thurgood Marshall devoted his life to the pursuit 
of equal justice for all Americans. Named ``Thoroughgood'' at birth 
after his great-grandfather, a former slave who had fought for the 
Union Army during the Civil War, Marshall later shortened his name to 
``Thurgood.'' After graduating from Lincoln University, Marshall 
received his law degree from Howard University in 1933, and set up 
private practice in Baltimore before joining the Baltimore NAACP.
  His remarkable career spanned several decades, during which he served 
our country honorably. His work as Director-Counsel of the NAACP laid 
the groundwork for some of the most historic civil rights decisions in 
our Nation's history. He also achieved international stature as a 
champion of equal rights around the world. President John F. Kennedy 
nominated Marshall to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit 
in 1961. President Lyndon B. Johnson named him U.S. solicitor general 
in 1965 and nominated him to the Supreme Court in 1967. Justice 
Marshall served as the first African American Justice from 1967 until 
he retired in 1991.
  Thurgood Marshall passed away in 1993 at age 84, and his body lay in 
state at the Supreme Court where thousands of mourners came from across 
the Nation to pay tribute to him. Renaming this international airport 
for him now serves as another fitting tribute to such a great 
Marylander and a great American. It will also serve to enlighten 
travelers from around the world that Baltimore was his home. Finally, 
Mr. Speaker, I want to acknowledge the extraordinary bipartisan effort 
in our state legislature--and particularly recognize the leadership of 
Delegate Emmett C. Burns, Jr.--that led to enactment of this law, and 
encourage all of my colleagues in Congress to use the Baltimore-
Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport for their next 
flight home.

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