Has anyone wondered why Eben chose to allude the Odyssey in comparing Thurgood Marshall to Odysseus in A Vigil For Thurgood Marshall? In the Odyssey, Odysseus returns home after 20 years of struggle, slays all the suitors, and regains his position in Ithaca. When I first thought about it, it seemed like the allusion did not really match. But here are couple of things that occurred to me.

Thurgood Marshall's return as Odysseus could be referring to the time between arguing Brown in 1954 and when he became a Supreme Court justice in 1967. He returned to the Supreme Court after all of those years to a place where he could strike down the wicked and unjust--as Odysseus had struck down the suitors.

In addition, it seems like Thurgood Marshall had a very well known mentor-mentee relationship with Charles Hamilton Houston--who is known as "The Man Who Killed Jim Crow." Houston trained Marshall, just as Mentor had aided Odysseus.

-- MatthewVillar - 07 May 2012