The New Jersey Department of Education building recently has been dedicated to honor U.S. District Court Judge Robert L. Carter, a pioneering civil rights attorney who presented part of the legal argument in the famous Brown v. Board of Education case.

Born in Florida and raised in Newark and East Orange, Carter now is 89. He worked as a legal assistant to Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American justice to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. Marshall was general counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

 “Judge Carter is a brave champion of civil rights, whose courageous legal battle and illustrious career exemplify the qualities that have put our state at the forefront of education reform,” Gov. Jon S. Corzine said during the dedication ceremony at the education building, 100 Riverview Plaza in Trenton.