Thomas M. Norwood graduated from Emory College in 1850 and studied law under Georgia governor James Milton Smith. He was admitted to the bar in 1852 and began his legal practice in Savannah. Norwood's political career included service in the Georgia House of Representatives and as a presidential elector. He was the first Democrat from the South seated in the U.S. Senate after the Civil War, serving from 1871 to 1877. After a stint in the U.S. House of Representatives, he resumed his legal practice and was appointed judge of the city court of Savannah in 1896, where he served for twelve years.

Thomas M. Norwood's political identity is marked by a deeply rooted Southern conservatism, particularly in his staunch opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1875. His judicial career and controversial statements on racial relationships and slavery reveal a rigid adherence to antebellum social hierarchies. Norwood's rhetoric often juxtaposes a commitment to traditional Southern values with a surprising willingness to engage with legal and legislative processes, creating a complex and provocative political persona.