Thurgood Marshall School of Law

The Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas University was founded in 1946 after Heman M. Sweatt was denied admission to the University of Texas School of Law because he was black. Thurgood Marshall argued Mr. Sweatt’s case before the U.S. Supreme Court and the Texas Legislature passed legislation for an interim and separate law school for African-Americans as part of the “Texas State University for Negroes,” the former name of Texas Southern University. The law school was originally located in Austin, Texas, but was moved to Texas Southern University’s campus in Houston. In 1978, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall agreed to change the name from “Law School of Texas Southern University” to the “Thurgood Marshall School of Law.” For the past five years, the Law School has been ranked #1 in Texas for producing African-American law graduates.