Thurgood Marshall’s Former School Reimagined, With UMD’s Help

UMD Facilities on Law, Gun Violence and Public Health Anchor New West Baltimore Center

As an elementary school student at West Baltimore’s P.S. 103, young Thurgood Marshall was so rambunctious that his teachers often sent him to a quiet room in the basement, where he was instructed to read the U.S. Constitution. By the time he finished elementary school in 1921, the late U.S. Supreme Court justice later said, he’d memorized it.

Now, the historic building has taken on a new identity as a community gathering place, research hub and legal center that carries on his long-standing values, thanks in part to the University of Maryland. The Thurgood Marshall Amenity Center at P.S. 103 is anchored by the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences’ Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. Center for Education, Justice and Ethics, which conducts research and offers programs on criminal justice issues.

A grand opening will be held Monday, the eve of what would have been Marshall’s 116th birthday. Scheduled guests include his son John Marshall, as well as former NBA star Carmelo Anthony and ambassadors from Ghana, Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya.

The center also includes two other UMD-led facilities: a branch of the Transformative Research and Applied Violence Intervention Lab (TRAVAIL), led by MPower Professor of African American and Africana Studies, Medical Anthropology and Epidemiology Joseph Richardson, and a health and wellness space helmed by Stephen B. Thomas, professor of health policy and management and director of the Center for Health Equity in the School of Public Health.

“We’re excited to help transform that entire area, which has been deprived for so long,” said Williams, a retired U.S. District Court judge who now serves as director of the center bearing his name.