Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law has a unique history among America's law schools. The State of Texas established the institution in 1947 as a Texas State University for Negroes in order to thwart the integration of law schools at the University of Texas and maintain that university as a "white only" institution. In 1946, when the NAACP filed a suity in the Sweatt lawsuit, the State of Texas believed that it needed to establish a "Jim Crow" law school in order to avoid an adverse result in that case.

The Houston African American community was divided on the question of whether to support the establishment of the new "Jim Crow" institution or fight for integration of the University of Texas. Some believed that equalization of African American educational opportunity could be achieved at the new "Jim Crow" institution. However, the NAACP took the position that the educational equality of Texas' African Americans could only be achieved by integration, which left no place for the establishment of the "Jim Crow" Texas Southern University. Thus, the Law School began without the important support of Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP.

From the beginning, the Texas Southern University School of Law began the important task of providing equal legal educational opportunity to underserved citizens of the State of Texas. One of the first contributions of the Law School was the development of a new cadre of leaders in the African American community. The Law School's graduates have served in Congress, the state legislature, and judiciary, and throughout the legal community in Texas and beyond. Beginning in the 1970's, the Law School expanded its mission beyond the African American community of Texas. Each year the Law School ranks in the top five (5) in the nation in the number of African American law graduates. In addition, it ranks in the top twenty-five (25) in the number of Mexican American graduates.