Larry Gibson and Harold Kwalwasser are a powerful team.


In 1972, Larry Gibson became the first African-American law professor at the University of Virginia. Shortly
thereafter, he joined the faculty at the University of Maryland School School of Law, where he for five decades
taught law courses on Evidence, Civil Procedure, Election Law, Civil Rights, and Thurgood Marshall.

Gibson has also served as a visiting law professor at the University of Mississippi, North Carolina Central
University, and the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. During the administration of President Jimmy Carter,
Gibson served in the U.S, Department of Justice as an Associate Deputy Attorney General.

Larry Gibson’s book Young Thurgood: The Making of a Supreme Court Justice (Prometheus Book, 1912) has
been highly acclaimed and won national and international book awards.

Harold Kwalwasser brings a complementary and potent dimension to the project: deep knowledge of education
rights, policy, litigation, and organizational dynamics during the very era in which Marshall was active.
Kwalwasser served as General Counsel of the Los Angeles Unified School District, one of the largest school
systems in the United States, and prior to that held senior legal positions in the U.S. Department of Defense and
other legislative offices.

His book Renewal: Remaking America’s Schools for the 21st Century established him as a leading voice on
educational reform and institutional strategy.

Kwalwasser’s perspective strengthens the book’s ability to analyze not just the courtroom events, but also the
institutional and policy landscapes that made those victories possible and important.

The combined experiences of Larry Gibson and Harold Kwalwasser ensure that this book will not only tell the
story of Thurgood Marshall’s work between 1935 and 1955, but will also interpret its institutional strategies, legal importance, and historical significance with clarity and authority.