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“The legal system can force open doors and sometimes even knock down walls. But it cannot build bridges. That job belongs to you and me.”

Source: Liberty Medal acceptance speech, Philadelphia, 4 July 1992

Context In his Liberty Medal speech, delivered months after retiring from the Court, Marshall addressed the limits of court rulings in overcoming racial division.

Portrait of Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood MarshallUnited States · 1908–1993
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