Pioneering African American laywer, senator and judge. The fisrt African American woman appointed to a federal judgeship in the United States and the only woman on the NAACP legal team that won the epochal school desegregation decision Brown v. Board of Education. Also first black woman elected to the New York State Senate. Born in New Haven, CT on Sept. 14, 1921, Constance Baker Motley devoted her life to the practice of law, addressing the rights of both minorities and women in her positions as a civil rights attorney and jurist on the federal bench. As a key figure in many of the major legal battles of the civil rights era and for women's rights, Motley argued ten civil rights cases before the Supreme Court, winning nine. One of her best-known cases was Meredith v. Fair, in which, largely through her efforts, James Meredith gained entrance to the University of Mississippi in 1962. In addition to her numerous articles and essays, Motley was the author of "Equal Justice Under Law: The Life of a Pioneer for Black Civil Rights and Women's Rights" (1988). She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993. Constance Baker Motley died from heart failure at 84 on Sept. 21, 2005 at New York University Downtown Hospital. At the time of her death, she was senior judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Pioneering African American laywer, senator and judge. The fisrt African American woman appointed to a federal judgeship in the United States and the only woman on the NAACP legal team that won the epochal school desegregation decision Brown v. Board of Education. Also first black woman elected to the New York State Senate. Born in New Haven, CT on Sept. 14, 1921, Constance Baker Motley devoted her life to the practice of law, addressing the rights of both minorities and women in her positions as a civil rights attorney and jurist on the federal bench. As a key figure in many of the major legal battles of the civil rights era and for women's rights, Motley argued ten civil rights cases before the Supreme Court, winning nine. One of her best-known cases was Meredith v. Fair, in which, largely through her efforts, James Meredith gained entrance to the University of Mississippi in 1962. In addition to her numerous articles and essays, Motley was the author of "Equal Justice Under Law: The Life of a Pioneer for Black Civil Rights and Women's Rights" (1988). She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993. Constance Baker Motley died from heart failure at 84 on Sept. 21, 2005 at New York University Downtown Hospital. At the time of her death, she was senior judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Bio by: Curtis Jackson
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