who was the african american who served as a supreme court justice

The African American who first served as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court was Thurgood Marshall.

He was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1967, confirmed by the Senate that same year, and served as an associate justice from 1967 to 1991. Before joining the Court, Marshall was a prominent civil rights lawyer best known for arguing and winning Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the landmark case that struck down racial segregation in public schools.