Thurgood Marshall (1908–1993), an African American lawyer and US Supreme Court justice, was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Marshall attended a segregated high school in Baltimore and then went to Lincoln University, where the student body was all black and the faculty all white. Because the University of Maryland Law School refused to accept African Americans, Marshall’s mother pawned her engagement and wedding rings so he could attend Howard Law School. With the legislative and executive branches of government largely...

Eugene McCarthy (1916–2005) was a little-known Minnesota senator until November 1967, when he challenged President Lyndon B. Johnson for the 1968 Democratic nomination for president. McCarthy’s candidacy centered on his opposition to the Vietnam War. Because Johnson was an incumbent, and McCarthy was not a nationally known figure, the challenge was not initially seen as a real threat to Johnson’s election. As public opposition to the war grew, however, McCarthy’s primary campaign gained more traction. In March 1968, Senator Robert F....