Naming Hillburn Thruway Interchange after Thurgood Marshall

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — The New York State Senate has passed legislation sponsored by Senator David Carlucci (D-Rockland/Westchester) that would name the State Thruway and I-287 Interchange in the Village of Hillburn the "Thurgood Marshall Interchange." In 1943 in Rockland County, Marshall became involved in an issue over whether black and white children should be in the same school. The Hillburn case predated, by more than a decade, his litigating Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.

The bill now goes to the Assembly.

Marshall, later a Supreme Court Justice, was then an NAACP attorney. At the time, children of color in Hillburn had to attend the Brook School—which didn’t have indoor bathrooms, a gym or a library. The Main School had all the amenities the taxpayers could provide.

A coalition of black parents called on the NAACP for help.

Eventually, the State Board of Education decreed that the black children could, in fact, attend the Main School. The resolution of this case made New York one of the first states to integrate its schools. While additional problems ensued, Hillburn stands as the first place that a 1938 law overturning Jim Crow in education was tested and upheld.

"Thurgood Marshall championed the most important premises of democratic government -- freedom, equality and justice for all and he did it right in our backyard. Marshall's efforts in Hillburn and his lifetime achievements thereafter, ultimately resulting in his appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, should be recognized in Rockland County to a much greater extent than is presently the case. Passing this legislation will cement our community as a place in time that was vital to the fabric of who we are as a nation," Carlucci said in a press release.

LEARN MORE: Visit the museum at the Rockland African Diaspora Heritage Center in Pomona. The RADHC is a collaborative effort of The African American Historical Society of Rockland County, The Spring Valley NAACP, and the CEJJES Institute. It is primarily dedicated to the preservation and understanding of the experiences of Black people in Rockland County and New York State.

SEE ALSO: Main School in Hillburn Nominated for Historic Register