Page 214 - chs-1992

Thurgood Marshall, the first Afrlc:an-Amerlc:an member of the Supreme Court, was less than a
weak shy of his 83rd birthday when he announced on June 27,1991, that he was retiring. His 24
years on the benc:h followed 23 years of fighting before that c:ourt and others for the rights of the
oppressed end forgotten.
40 year old Clarence Thomas grew up poor, Afrlc:an-Amerlc:an and Democ:ratlc: In Pinpoint,
Georgia, but later switched parties end became a controversial symbol of Afrlc:an-Amerlc:an ·
conservatism.
In addition to the controversy of Thomas's legal velws, a charge of sexual harrasment was
brought up against him by law professor Anita Hill. Thomas vehemently denied the allegations and
said, ''This Is Kafkaesque. Enough Is enough."
After muc:h debate over who was right and who was wrong- Clarence Thomas, Anita Hill, or the
system Itself-the United States Senate voted to c:onflrm Thomas.
Life has not been the same for law professor Anita Hill slnc:e going public: with allegations that
Supreme Court Justlc:e Clarence Thomas sexually harrased her nearly a decade ago.
Although Thomas was confirmed, professor Hill Insisted that by letting her story be known she
had ac:c:ompllshed everything she set out to do. "All that's happened has made the general public:
muc:h more aware of sexual harrasment than ever before," said Hill.

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