Black History Makers: The Honorable Constance Baker Motley

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Constance Baker Motley was born on September 14, 1921 in New Haven, Connecticut. Raised in the New York area, during her youth, Motley's parents were influential leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Motley later recounted that observing her parents work helped her decide by the age of 15 to become a civil rights lawyer.

During her student days, Motley initially attended Fisk University in Nashville, but later transferred to New York University, where she earned a degree in economics in 1943. Motley then attended the Columbia University School of law and following graduation, became the first woman lawyer for the NAACP's Legal Defense and Education Fund. In this capacity, Motley served alongside legal giants Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall and in 1950, she drafted the original complaint that would lead to the seminal Brown vs. Board of Education case that eventually helped end legal Jim Crow segregation.

As an attorney, Motley was noted for winning nine of the ten cases that she argued before the US Supreme Court, including a 1962 case that allowed James Meredith to become the first black to enroll at the University of Mississippi. She also later served as Manhattan Borough President before being tapped by President Lyndon B. Johnson to become the first Black woman to serve as a United States District Court Judge, a position that she held until her death in 2005 at the age of 84.

Attorneys Constance Baker Motley and William Kunstler advising Dr. Martin Luther King during the SCLC’s campaign in Albany, Georgia circa 1962

Judge Motley received numerous awards and commendations during her lifetime including citations by the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame, the Spingarn Medal—the NAACP's highest award, and the President's Citizens Medal as awarded by then President Bill Clinton.

Lest we forget…