Film screening and conversation: 'Becoming Thurgood'

Join the SCAD Museum of Art’s Evans Center for African American Studies for a special screening of the film Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect. Thurgood Marshall was born in Baltimore’s Sandtown, where grit met genius. His story begins there, but it doesn’t end until justice is served. A proud HBCU grad, Marshall attended Lincoln University, where he paid his own tuition, and then Howard Law School. Attending these prestigious historically Black universities served as the foundation for his fight for equality — and his eventual success, winning 29 of the 32 civil rights cases he argued before the Supreme Court. His relentless persistence laid the groundwork for the dismantling of Jim Crow segregation. Becoming Thurgood explores the life and influence of the nation’s first African American Supreme Court Justice and the driving force behind the greatest legal battles of the civil rights movement.

Following the screening, the museum welcomes Cecilia Marshall (SCAD B.F.A., photography, 2002), granddaughter of Thurgood Marshall, and historian Felicia Bell, Ph.D. (SCAD M.A., historic preservation, 2002), in conversation on Marshall’s legacy and the historical impact of his work.

This event is free and open to the public. RSVP to Andreia Wardlaw at [email protected].

About the speakers
Dr. Felicia A. Bell’s career has spanned 27 years of leadership in public history and academia. Most recently, she was historian to the director at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. In that capacity, the Smithsonian Institution recognized an exhibition team on which she participated with the Special Achievement in Audience Engagement Award for Reckoning with Remembrance: History, Injustice, and the Murder of Emmett Till. In 2016, the legislature for the state of Alabama recognized her excellence as the director of the Rosa Parks Museum at Troy University in Montgomery. While in that role, she was awarded Citizen of the Year (2020) by the Montgomery Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. While directing education and programs at the United States Capitol Historical Society, she provided expert witness testimony to Congress (2007) based on her doctoral dissertation research about the use of enslaved and free Black craftsmen to construct the United States Capitol building. As a former assistant professor of history and the inaugural director of honors at her beloved alma mater Savannah State University, Bell was delighted to return to deliver the 199th (2021) commencement address. Bell’s most recent scholarship includes her contribution to Landscapes in the Making (Harvard University Press, 2025). She is a 2025–26 fellow at the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon. Bell earned a B.A. in history from Savannah State University (1998), an M.A. in historic preservation from the Savannah College of Art and Design (2002), and a doctor of philosophy in U.S. history from Howard University (2009) in Washington, D.C.

Cecilia Marshall is the executive director of the Thurgood Marshall Foundation, where she leads the family’s efforts to preserve, protect, and promote the legacy of her grandfather, Justice Thurgood Marshall. She stepped into this role after years of leadership in national nonprofits and philanthropy, bringing deep experience in fundraising, strategic partnerships, college access and success, and program innovation to steward the foundation’s mission at a pivotal moment. Her career has centered on expanding opportunity and increasing social mobility. She has held senior leadership roles at Ed Advancement, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, the Jackie Robinson Foundation, and APIA Scholars, where she launched initiatives to strengthen college access, student success, and long-term impact for underrepresented communities. She holds a B.A. in photography from the Savannah College of Art and Design and earlier in her career led global recruitment efforts at SCAD after beginning her professional path in corporate advertising in New York. Marshall previously served on the Board of Directors of the National Scholarship Providers Association (NSPA) and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF), the nation’s premier legal organization fighting for racial justice, founded by her grandfather.