Texas Southern University was established in 1947 under Texas State Senate Bill 140, which granted the University the authority to offer courses of higher learning in pharmacy, dentistry, journalism, education, arts and sciences, literature, law, medicine, and other professional courses. The University, established by the Fiftieth Texas Legislature, was originally known as "Texas State University for Negroes." However, the name was changed by the legislature in 1951 to Texas Southern University.

The Thurgood Marshall School of Law, as well as the University at-large, was undoubtedly created as a consequence of a 1946 lawsuit brought by Heman M. Sweatt. Under the Texas Constitution, which required separate but equal treatment, Mr. Sweatt was refused admission to the University of Texas School of Law because he was black. As a result, the legislature provided for an interim and separate law school for Negroes. During its first academic year, the law school was housed in Austin, Texas, and was subsequently transferred to the new university campus in Houston.

It is appropriate to note that Justice Marshall, chief counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, successfully argued Heman M. Sweatt's case before the United States Supreme Court.

Since its move to Houston, the School of Law has become an integral part of the Texas Southern University campus. Prior to 1976, the law school was housed in Hannah Hall - the University's administrative complex. On February 14, 1976, the school was formally named The Thurgood Marshall School of Law in honor of the distinguished former U.S. Supreme Court Justice and was moved to its present location.

The Law School has been greatly enriched by the contributions of its culturally diverse students and faculty. Moreover, Thurgood Marshall School of Law is proud that it has produced numerous attorneys and judges of all ethnicities - thereby, significantly impacting the diversity of our nation's legal representatives.