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{{Short description|American civil rights activist (1928–2022)}}
{{Short description|American civil rights activist (1928–2022)}}
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{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Cecilia Suyat Marshall
| name = Cecilia Suyat Marshall
| image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing [[brackets]] -->
| image = Thurgood Marshall and family, 1965.png
| alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
| alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
| caption =
| caption = Cecilia (left) along with Thurgood Marshall (right), and their sons in 1965
| birth_name = Cecilia Suyat
| birth_name = Cecilia Suyat
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1928|07|20}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1928|07|20}}
| birth_place = [[Puʻunene, Hawaii|Pu'unene]], [[Maui]], [[Territory of Hawaii]], U.S.
| birth_place = [[Puʻunene, Hawaii|Pu'unene]], [[Maui]], [[Territory of Hawaii]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|11|22|1928|07|20}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|11|22|1928|07|20}}
| death_place = [[Falls Church, Virginia|Falls Church]], [[Virginia]], U.S.
| death_place = [[Falls Church, Virginia]], U.S.
| nationality =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| other_names =
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'''Cecilia Suyat Marshall''' (July 20, 1928 – November 22, 2022) was an American civil rights activist and historian from [[Hawaii]]. She was of [[Filipinos|Filipino descent]]. Her life is featured in the [[National Museum of African American History and Culture]] at the [[Smithsonian American Art Museum|Smithsonian]] and she was recorded by the [[Library of Congress]] regarding her experiences with [[civil rights]] in the United States. In the 1940s and 1950s, she served as a [[stenographer]] and private secretary for the [[NAACP]] in Washington D.C. She was married to [[Thurgood Marshall]], the first African-American [[U.S. Supreme Court]] Justice, from 1955 until his death in 1993.
'''Cecilia Suyat Marshall''' (July 20, 1928 – November 22, 2022) was an American civil rights activist and historian from Hawaii who was married to [[Thurgood Marshall]], the first African-American [[U.S. Supreme Court]] Justice, from 1955 until his death in 1993. She was of [[Filipinos|Filipino descent]]. Her life is featured in the [[National Museum of African American History and Culture]] at the [[Smithsonian American Art Museum|Smithsonian]] and she was recorded by the [[Library of Congress]] regarding her experiences with [[civil rights]] in the United States. In the 1940s and 1950s, she served as a [[stenographer]] and private secretary for the [[NAACP]] in Washington, D.C.


== Early life and career ==
== Early life and career ==
Cecilia "Cissy" Suyat was born in [[Puʻunene, Hawaii|Pu'unene]], [[Maui]], in [[Hawaii]] on July 20, 1928.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.staugustinesdc.org/article/134/about-us/thurgood-marshall-legacy/cecilia-marshall|title=St. Augustine's Episcopal Church DC SW : Cecilia Marshall|website=www.staugustinesdc.org|language=en-US|access-date=April 24, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180425114451/http://www.staugustinesdc.org/article/134/about-us/thurgood-marshall-legacy/cecilia-marshall|archive-date=April 25, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> Her parents emigrated from the [[Philippines]] in 1910.<ref name=":1" /> Her father owned a printing company and her mother died when she was young. She was raised in [[Hawaii]] with many siblings.<ref name="loc">{{Cite news|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2010039_crhp0097/|title=Cecilia Suyat Marshall oral history interview conducted by Emilye Crosby in Washington, D.C., 2013-06-30.|work=The Library of Congress|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://notestowomen.wordpress.com/2011/02/22/three-great-women/|title=Three Great Women|date=February 22, 2011|work=Notes to Women|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref>
Cecilia "Cissy" Suyat was born in [[Puʻunene, Hawaii|Pu'unene]], [[Maui]], in [[Hawaii]] on July 20, 1928.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.staugustinesdc.org/article/134/about-us/thurgood-marshall-legacy/cecilia-marshall|title=St. Augustine's Episcopal Church DC SW : Cecilia Marshall|website=www.staugustinesdc.org|language=en-US|access-date=April 24, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180425114451/http://www.staugustinesdc.org/article/134/about-us/thurgood-marshall-legacy/cecilia-marshall|archive-date=April 25, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> Her parents emigrated from the [[Philippines]] in 1910.<ref name=":1" /> Her father owned a printing company and her mother died when she was young. She was raised in [[Hawaii]] with many siblings.<ref name="loc">{{Cite news|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2010039_crhp0097/|title=Cecilia Suyat Marshall oral history interview conducted by Emilye Crosby in Washington, D.C., 2013-06-30.|work=The Library of Congress|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en}}</ref>


Suyat moved to [[New York City]] to live with her maternal uncle and aunt, on the advice of her father,<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19532374/|title=About Women in Washington|last=Hutchinson|first=Louise|date=November 26, 1966|work=Chicago Tribune|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> before starting work for the [[NAACP]] in [[Washington D.C.]]<ref name="loc" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name="wp">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/thurgood-marshalls-interracial-love-i-dont-care-what-people-think-im-marrying-you/2016/08/18/84f636be-54d5-11e6-bbf5-957ad17b4385_story.html|title=Thurgood Marshall's interracial love: 'I don't care what people think. I'm marrying you.'|last=Brown|first=DeNeen L.|date=August 18, 2016|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> In her first assignment, she picketed the film ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'' at a local theater, which soon stopped showing the film. Suyat took night classes at [[Columbia University]] to become a court [[stenographer]] and eventually became the private secretary of Dr. [[Gloster B. Current]], the head of the NAACP, from 1948 to 1955. She played a role in the historic ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' case.<ref name="wp" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2016/08/20/cissy-marshall-recalls-day-of-brown-v-board-of-education-decision/|title=Cissy Marshall recalls day of Brown v. Board of Education decision|last=Brown|first=DeNeen L.|date=August 20, 2016|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}}</ref>
Suyat moved to [[New York City]] to live with her maternal uncle and aunt, on the advice of her father,<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19532374/|title=About Women in Washington|last=Hutchinson|first=Louise|date=November 26, 1966|work=Chicago Tribune|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> before starting work for the [[NAACP]] in [[Washington D.C.]]<ref name="loc" /><ref name="wp">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/thurgood-marshalls-interracial-love-i-dont-care-what-people-think-im-marrying-you/2016/08/18/84f636be-54d5-11e6-bbf5-957ad17b4385_story.html|title=Thurgood Marshall's interracial love: 'I don't care what people think. I'm marrying you.'|last=Brown|first=DeNeen L.|date=August 18, 2016|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> In her first assignment, she picketed the film ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'' at a local theater, which soon stopped showing the film. Suyat took night classes at [[Columbia University]] to become a court [[stenographer]] and eventually became the private secretary of Dr. [[Gloster B. Current]], the head of the NAACP, from 1948 to 1955. She played a role in the historic ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' case.<ref name="wp" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2016/08/20/cissy-marshall-recalls-day-of-brown-v-board-of-education-decision/|title=Cissy Marshall recalls day of Brown v. Board of Education decision|last=Brown|first=DeNeen L.|date=August 20, 2016|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}}</ref>


==Marriage==
==Marriage==
Suyat met [[Thurgood Marshall]], then married him in 1955 after Marshall's previous wife, [[Vivian Burey]], died of lung cancer. Suyat married Marshall on December 17, 1955.<ref name="wp" /> [[Roy Wilkins]], who was secretary of the NAACP, presided over the service at [[St. Philip's Episcopal Church (Manhattan)|St. Philip’s Episcopal Church]] in [[Harlem, New York]]. Visitors to their apartment included [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] and [[Rosa Parks]].<ref name="loc" /><ref name="wp" />
Suyat met [[Thurgood Marshall]], then married him in 1955 after Marshall's previous wife, [[Vivian Burey]], died of lung cancer. Suyat married Marshall on December 17, 1955.<ref name="wp" /> [[Roy Wilkins]], who was secretary of the NAACP, presided over the service at [[St. Philip's Episcopal Church (Manhattan)|St. Philip's Episcopal Church]] in [[Harlem, New York]]. Visitors to their apartment included [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] and [[Rosa Parks]].<ref name="loc" /><ref name="wp" />


Suyat and Marshall were the parents of [[John W. Marshall]], a former [[Virginia Secretary of Public Safety]] and former [[U.S. Marshals Service]] Director, and [[Thurgood Marshall Jr.]] Juan Williams reported Suyat worked extensively in Marshall's later years to keep his explosions of "frustration with the conservative court and what remained of the Civil Rights Movement" out of the public, afraid that they would embarrass him.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UMfv38IQtr0C&q=%22cissy+marshall+worked+endlessly%22&pg=PT303|title=Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary|last=Williams|first=Juan|date=June 22, 2011|publisher=Crown/Archetype|isbn=9780307786128|language=en}}</ref>
Suyat and Marshall were the parents of [[John W. Marshall]], a former [[Virginia Secretary of Public Safety]] and former [[U.S. Marshals Service]] Director, and [[Thurgood Marshall Jr.]] Juan Williams reported Suyat worked extensively in Marshall's later years to keep his explosions of "frustration with the conservative court and what remained of the Civil Rights Movement" out of the public, afraid that they would embarrass him.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UMfv38IQtr0C&q=%22cissy+marshall+worked+endlessly%22&pg=PT303|title=Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary|last=Williams|first=Juan|date=June 22, 2011|publisher=Crown/Archetype|isbn=9780307786128|language=en}}</ref>


==Later life and death==
==Later life and death==
Suyat spent her life preserving history and continued to fight for civil rights after her husband's death. She believed that there is still a long way to go.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://milwaukeecourieronline.com/index.php/2017/05/27/on-the-anniversary-of-brown-v-board-of-education-cissy-marshall-laments-lack-of-progress/|title=On the Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, "Cissy" Marshall Laments Lack of Progress {{!}} Milwaukee Courier Weekly Newspaper|website=milwaukeecourieronline.com|date=May 27, 2017 |language=en|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://lasentinel.net/thurgood-marshalls-widow-keeps-his-legacy-alive.html|title=Thurgood Marshall's Widow Keeps His Legacy Alive - Los Angeles Sentinel|date=May 11, 2017|work=Los Angeles Sentinel|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://washingtoninformer.com/2017-the-year-in-review/|title=2017: The Year in Review |website=washingtoninformer.com|date=December 27, 2017 |publisher=[[The Washington Informer]]|language=en-US|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref> She gave an oral history interview for the [[Library of Congress]] conducted by Emilye Crosby in Washington, D.C. on June 30, 2013.<ref name="loc" /> Her story is now featured in the [[National Museum of African American History and Culture]] at the [[Smithsonian American Art Museum|Smithsonian]] in Washington, D.C.<ref name="wp" /> The interview was authorized by the [[United States Congress]] on May 12, 2009, in the [[Civil Rights History Project Act of 2009]] (Public Law 111-19). The exhibit was created as part of a 5-year initiative to survey existing oral history collections with relevance to the [[Civil Rights Movement]] and record new interviews with people who participated in the social and political movement.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/civil-rights-history-project/id880114010?mt=2|title=Civil Rights History Project by Library of Congress on Apple Podcasts|website=Apple Podcasts|language=en|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref>
Suyat spent her life preserving history and continued to fight for civil rights after her husband's death. She believed that there is still a long way to go.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://milwaukeecourieronline.com/index.php/2017/05/27/on-the-anniversary-of-brown-v-board-of-education-cissy-marshall-laments-lack-of-progress/|title=On the Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, "Cissy" Marshall Laments Lack of Progress {{!}} Milwaukee Courier Weekly Newspaper|website=milwaukeecourieronline.com|date=May 27, 2017 |language=en|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://lasentinel.net/thurgood-marshalls-widow-keeps-his-legacy-alive.html|title=Thurgood Marshall's Widow Keeps His Legacy Alive Los Angeles Sentinel|date=May 11, 2017|work=Los Angeles Sentinel|access-date=April 24, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://washingtoninformer.com/2017-the-year-in-review/|title=2017: The Year in Review |website=washingtoninformer.com|date=December 27, 2017 |publisher=[[The Washington Informer]]|language=en-US|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref> She gave an oral history interview for the [[Library of Congress]] conducted by Emilye Crosby in Washington, D.C. on June 30, 2013.<ref name="loc" /> Her story is now featured in the [[National Museum of African American History and Culture]] at the [[Smithsonian American Art Museum|Smithsonian]] in Washington, D.C.<ref name="wp" /> The interview was authorized by the [[United States Congress]] on May 12, 2009, in the [[Civil Rights History Project Act of 2009]] (Public Law 111-19). The exhibit was created as part of a 5-year initiative to survey existing oral history collections with relevance to the [[Civil Rights Movement]] and record new interviews with people who participated in the social and political movement.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/civil-rights-history-project/id880114010?mt=2|title=Civil Rights History Project by Library of Congress on Apple Podcasts|website=Apple Podcasts|language=en|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref>


Suyat attended the opening of a new school building for the [[Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning and Social Change]] in New York City's Harlem neighborhood in 2004.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8LUDAAAAMBAJ&q=thurgood+marshall+academy+for+learning+and+social+change&pg=PA20|title = Jet|date = February 23, 2004|publisher = Johnson Publishing Company}}</ref>
Suyat attended the opening of a new school building for the [[Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning and Social Change]] in New York City's Harlem neighborhood in 2004.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8LUDAAAAMBAJ&q=thurgood+marshall+academy+for+learning+and+social+change&pg=PA20|title = Jet|date = February 23, 2004|publisher = Johnson Publishing Company}}</ref>


Suyat died on November 22, 2022, at the age of 94.<ref name="WaPo-Obit">{{cite news |last= Barnes|first= Bart|date= November 22, 2022|title= Cecilia 'Cissy' Marshall, keeper of Thurgood Marshall's legacy, dies at 94|url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/11/22/cissy-marshall-thurgood-dead/ |newspaper= [[The Washington Post]] |access-date=November 22, 2022}}</ref>
Suyat died on November 22, 2022, at the age of 94 in Falls Church, Virginia.<ref name="WaPo-Obit">{{cite news |last= Barnes|first= Bart|date= November 22, 2022|title= Cecilia 'Cissy' Marshall, keeper of Thurgood Marshall's legacy, dies at 94|url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/11/22/cissy-marshall-thurgood-dead/ |newspaper= [[The Washington Post]] |access-date=November 22, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Cecilia 'Cissy' Marshall, keeper of Thurgood Marshall's legacy, dies at 94 |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/11/22/cissy-marshall-thurgood-dead/ |access-date=2022-11-24 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}


{{authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Cecilia Suyat}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Cecilia Suyat}}
[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:2022 deaths]]
[[Category:2022 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Maui]]
[[Category:Activists from Hawaii]]
[[Category:American civil rights activists]]
[[Category:American civil rights activists]]
[[Category:American women historians]]
[[Category:Women civil rights activists]]
[[Category:Women civil rights activists]]
[[Category:People from Maui]]
[[Category:American people of Filipino descent]]
[[Category:American people of Filipino descent]]
[[Category:Activists from Hawaii]]
[[Category:NAACP activists]]
[[Category:NAACP activists]]
[[Category:American women activists]]
[[Category:Thurgood Marshall]]
[[Category:Thurgood Marshall]]
[[Category:20th-century American women]]
[[Category:21st-century American women]]
[[Category:21st-century American women]]
[[Category:20th-century American historians]]
[[Category:21st-century American historians]]

Revision as of 12:40, 31 December 2022

Cecilia Suyat Marshall
Cecilia (left) along with Thurgood Marshall (right), and their sons in 1965
Born
Cecilia Suyat

(1928-07-20)July 20, 1928
DiedNovember 22, 2022(2022-11-22) (aged 94)
Occupation(s)Civil rights activist and historian
Spouse
(m. 1955; died 1993)
Children

Cecilia Suyat Marshall (July 20, 1928 – November 22, 2022) was an American civil rights activist and historian from Hawaii who was married to Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American U.S. Supreme Court Justice, from 1955 until his death in 1993. She was of Filipino descent. Her life is featured in the National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian and she was recorded by the Library of Congress regarding her experiences with civil rights in the United States. In the 1940s and 1950s, she served as a stenographer and private secretary for the NAACP in Washington, D.C.

Early life and career

Cecilia "Cissy" Suyat was born in Pu'unene, Maui, in Hawaii on July 20, 1928.[1] Her parents emigrated from the Philippines in 1910.[1] Her father owned a printing company and her mother died when she was young. She was raised in Hawaii with many siblings.[2]

Suyat moved to New York City to live with her maternal uncle and aunt, on the advice of her father,[1][3] before starting work for the NAACP in Washington D.C.[2][4] In her first assignment, she picketed the film The Birth of a Nation at a local theater, which soon stopped showing the film. Suyat took night classes at Columbia University to become a court stenographer and eventually became the private secretary of Dr. Gloster B. Current, the head of the NAACP, from 1948 to 1955. She played a role in the historic Brown v. Board of Education case.[4][5]

Marriage

Suyat met Thurgood Marshall, then married him in 1955 after Marshall's previous wife, Vivian Burey, died of lung cancer. Suyat married Marshall on December 17, 1955.[4] Roy Wilkins, who was secretary of the NAACP, presided over the service at St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Harlem, New York. Visitors to their apartment included Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks.[2][4]

Suyat and Marshall were the parents of John W. Marshall, a former Virginia Secretary of Public Safety and former U.S. Marshals Service Director, and Thurgood Marshall Jr. Juan Williams reported Suyat worked extensively in Marshall's later years to keep his explosions of "frustration with the conservative court and what remained of the Civil Rights Movement" out of the public, afraid that they would embarrass him.[6]

Later life and death

Suyat spent her life preserving history and continued to fight for civil rights after her husband's death. She believed that there is still a long way to go.[7][8][9] She gave an oral history interview for the Library of Congress conducted by Emilye Crosby in Washington, D.C. on June 30, 2013.[2] Her story is now featured in the National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.[4] The interview was authorized by the United States Congress on May 12, 2009, in the Civil Rights History Project Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-19). The exhibit was created as part of a 5-year initiative to survey existing oral history collections with relevance to the Civil Rights Movement and record new interviews with people who participated in the social and political movement.[10]

Suyat attended the opening of a new school building for the Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning and Social Change in New York City's Harlem neighborhood in 2004.[11]

Suyat died on November 22, 2022, at the age of 94 in Falls Church, Virginia.[12][13]

References

  1. ^ a b c "St. Augustine's Episcopal Church DC SW : Cecilia Marshall". www.staugustinesdc.org. Archived from the original on April 25, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d "Cecilia Suyat Marshall oral history interview conducted by Emilye Crosby in Washington, D.C., 2013-06-30". The Library of Congress. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  3. ^ Hutchinson, Louise (November 26, 1966). "About Women in Washington". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 24, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b c d e Brown, DeNeen L. (August 18, 2016). "Thurgood Marshall's interracial love: 'I don't care what people think. I'm marrying you.'". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  5. ^ Brown, DeNeen L. (August 20, 2016). "Cissy Marshall recalls day of Brown v. Board of Education decision". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  6. ^ Williams, Juan (June 22, 2011). Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary. Crown/Archetype. ISBN 9780307786128.
  7. ^ "On the Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, "Cissy" Marshall Laments Lack of Progress | Milwaukee Courier Weekly Newspaper". milwaukeecourieronline.com. May 27, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  8. ^ "Thurgood Marshall's Widow Keeps His Legacy Alive – Los Angeles Sentinel". Los Angeles Sentinel. May 11, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  9. ^ "2017: The Year in Review". washingtoninformer.com. The Washington Informer. December 27, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  10. ^ "Civil Rights History Project by Library of Congress on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  11. ^ "Jet". Johnson Publishing Company. February 23, 2004.
  12. ^ Barnes, Bart (November 22, 2022). "Cecilia 'Cissy' Marshall, keeper of Thurgood Marshall's legacy, dies at 94". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
  13. ^ "Cecilia 'Cissy' Marshall, keeper of Thurgood Marshall's legacy, dies at 94". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved November 24, 2022.