Becoming Thurgood: America's Social Architect premieres Tuesday, September 9 on PBS, PBS.org, and the PBS app

Executive produced by Stanley Nelson and Travis Mitchell and directed by Alexis Aggrey, new documentary explores the life and legacy of Thurgood Marshall, the nation’s first African American Supreme Court Justice

/EIN News/ -- Owings Mills, MD, United States, June 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Maryland Public Television (MPT) today announced the upcoming release of Becoming Thurgood: America's Social Architect. This new documentary explores the life and legacy of Thurgood Marshall, the nation’s first African American Supreme Court Justice.

Executive produced by Emmy Award-winning and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stanley Nelson and MPT Senior Vice President and Chief Content Officer Travis Mitchell, the film is produced and directed by Alexis Aggrey, with music by two-time Grammy Award-winning composer Derrick Hodge.

A testament to Marshall’s extraordinary influence, Becoming Thurgood: America's Social Architect premieres Tuesday, September 9, 2025, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET (check local listings) on PBS, PBS.org, and the PBS app.

"It was an honor to work on this film about an American titan whose legacy continues to expand and endure in these turbulent times," said executive producer Stanley Nelson. “I’m pleased to again be partnering with Maryland Public Television on the heels of two other joint productions, Becoming Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom.”

"For the first time, audiences will hear Thurgood Marshall tell his own story — in his own words," said director and producer Alexis Aggrey. "This film is the first to center Marshall’s own voice, drawn from a rare eight-hour oral history. It’s not just a documentary; it’s a conversation with a man whose legal mind reshaped the nation and whose legacy still echoes through our justice system today."

“We are honored to be working with this amazing team of filmmakers to explore the extraordinary life of Justice Thurgood Marshall, one of Maryland’s most illustrious sons,” said Travis Mitchell, executive producer and MPT Senior Vice President and Chief Content Officer. “Justice Marshall’s journey from his Baltimore childhood to his education at HBCUs, from his groundbreaking legal career at the NAACP to his history-making appointment to the Supreme Court, is a story of almost unprecedented achievement and one we know that PBS viewers will find illuminating as well as inspiring.”

Becoming Thurgood: America's Social Architect follows Justice Marshall’s journey from his birth in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1908 through his years at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Lincoln University and Howard University School of Law, and his groundbreaking career as a lawyer championing civil rights and dismantling school segregation.

Marshall won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, including the landmark Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, invalidating the separate but equal doctrine and ending racial segregation in public schools. In 1967, Marshall became the first African American appointed to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Becoming Thurgood: America's Social Architect includes exclusive interviews with family members, leading historians and authors, and legal experts who offer fresh insights into the life and extraordinary influence of the man who became known as “Mr. Civil Rights.”

The film will serve as the centerpiece of HBCU Week NOW 2025, a public media partnership that offers content about the history, legacy, cultural heritage, and degree programs offered by America’s HBCUs. A collection of original long-form and short films, live events, and other HBCU-themed programming is available on the HBCU Week NOW YouTube Channel @HBCUWeekNOW and its companion Instagram page and website (hbcuweeknow.com). 

The film will stream simultaneously with broadcast and be available on all station-branded PBS platforms including PBS.org, and the PBS app, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast, and VIZIO.

Becoming Thurgood: America's Social Architect is a production of the Aggrey Company and is presented by Maryland Public Television with an appropriation from MPT’s Center for Maryland History Films.

About Maryland Public Television
Maryland Public Television (MPT) is a statewide, public-supported TV network and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member offering entertaining and educational content delivered by traditional broadcasting and streaming on TVs, computers, and mobile devices via its online video player and the free PBS app. A state agency operating under the auspices of the Maryland Public Broadcasting Commission, MPT also produces local, regional, and national programming and frequently earns regional Emmy® awards for its work. MPT’s commitment to educators, parents, caregivers, and learners of all ages is delivered through its Maryland Center for Media Literacy & Education and Thinkport.org. MPT’s year-round community engagement activities connect viewers with resources covering a wide range of topics. More information is available at mpt.org.

About the Aggrey Company 
The Aggrey Company was established to connect award-winning talent to stories that matter from concept to delivery. Its principal, Alexis Aggrey, has worked in television production since 2004, and her work includes long-form vérité documentary, community engagement, museum display and live concert production. The Aggrey Company combines celebrated producers, cinematographers, editors and composers to execute content on time and on budget. The company has a proven track record of producing well-researched historical content that maintains high production standards and has extensive experience collecting primary research and conducting scholarly interviews through relationships with historical societies, including the Library of Congress, the National Archives, private collectors and stock vendors. These relationships were formed when working for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, National Geographic, and several PBS projects.

The Aggrey Company has a rich network of television contacts and has delivered award-winning content to local public media stations, PBS, Paramount+, ESPN+ and Smithsonian Channel.

Attachments

• Becoming Thurgood: America's Social Architect poster
• Becoming Thurgood: America's Social Architect title graphic

Tom Williams
                    Maryland Public Television
                    4105814031
                    tomwilliams@mpt.org