Here's an in-depth look at the life of Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas.

Personal: Birth date: June 23, 1948

Birth place: Pin Point, Georgia

Birth name: Clarence Thomas

Father: M.C. Thomas, a farm worker

Mother: Leola (Anderson) Thomas

Marriages: Virginia (Lamp) Thomas (May 30, 1987 - present); Kathy Ambush (1971-1984, divorced)

Children: with Kathy: Jamal, 1973

Education: Holy Cross College, A.B., 1971; Yale Law School, J.D., 1974

Religion: Roman Catholic

Other Facts: Grew up in poverty in segregated Georgia.

Raised by his maternal grandparents as a devout Catholic and was sent to an all-black Catholic school run by white nuns.

Thomas was a beneficiary of Yale's affirmative-action policy, which offered opportunities to minority students.

Served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Thomas has called his confirmation hearings a "high-tech lynching for an uppity black."

Is considered a conservative justice, has often opposed affirmative action, and tends to vote with Justice Scalia and other conservative justices.

Timeline: 1974-1977 - Assistant Attorney General of Missouri.

1977-1979 - Attorney for Monsanto Corporation in St. Louis, Missouri.

1979-1981 - Legislative Assistant to Senator John C. Danforth.

1981-1982 - Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in the Department of Education.

1982-1990 - Chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

1990-1991 - Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

July 1, 1991 - Nominated to the Supreme Court by President George H. W. Bush to fill the seat of retiring Thurgood Marshall.

July 1, 1991 - Jesse Jackson speaks out against Thomas's nomination

July 31, 1991 - The NAACP releases a statement opposing Thomas's appointment to the Supreme Court.