| Term Paper Title |
Clarence Thomas |
| # of Words |
891 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) |
3.56 |
Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas is one of the most arrogant, opinionated congressmen to ever
serve on Congress. But, luckily he is also one of the most brilliant congressmen to ever
serve on Congress. In this biography hopefully the reader will leave feeling satisfied that
I have provided satisfactory documentation to back up these two "bold" statements. It is
the opinion of many that Clarence Thomas is just a horny, selfish and "typical"
congressman. I feel that it is up to me to justify why this man's name should be spoken
in the same breath as other "firsts" on Congress, such as Thurgood Marshal and Shirley
Chisholm.
Clarence Thomas was born on June 23, 1948 in Pin Point, Georgia. Clarence is
the oldest boy born to M.C. and Leola Thomas. He has an older sister named Emma
Mae, and a younger brother, Myers. Clarence had a rough childhood, at the age of 2 his
father left his mother while she was pregnant with their third child. At the age of seven
Clarence and younger brother Myers were forced to move in with their grandparents,
Christine and Myers Anderson, because their house burned down. In a June 1987 speech
to the Heritage Foundation Thomas recalled, "My household…was strong, stable, and
conservative…." In his household, God was central. School, discipline, hard work, and
knowing right from wrong were of the highest priority. Crime welfare, slothfulness, and
alcohol were enemies. This strict upbringing proved beneficial to Clarence as far as his
schoolwork was concerned, but as far as religion and moral issues are concerned maybe
he tried to tune his grandparents out.
After high school Thomas was going to enter the priesthood through the
Immaculate Conception Seminary in Conception, Missouri. Thomas later on decided to
leave the Seminary in 1968 due to racial issues. Also during 1968 he transferred to Holy
Cross, a Jesuit college in Worcester, Massachusetts. At Holy Cross, along with others he
formed the Black Student Union. Thomas graduated from Holy Cross cum laude-ninth
in his class-from Holy Cross in 1971 with an A.B. degree in English literature. In
September 1971 Thomas entered Yale Law School which had recently adopted an
affirmative action program of aggressively recruiting minorities. In a 1983 speech
Thomas was quoted as saying in a speech to Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission staffers, he said, "But for affirmative action, God only knows where I would
be today. These laws and their proper application are all that stand between the first
seventeen years of my life and the second seventeen years. But on the other hand, Juan
Williams quoted him as saying, "I don't think black people are indebted to ...Read entire document
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