Constance Baker Motley
Constance Baker Motley was an African-American civil rights activist, lawyer, judge, state senator, and Borough President of Manhattan, New York City. She was the first African-American woman appointed to the federal judiciary, serving as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. She was an assistant attorney to Thurgood Marshall arguing the case Brown v. Board of Education.
Early life and education
Constance Baker was born on September 14, 1921, in New Haven, Connecticut, the ninth of twelve children. Her parents, Rachel Huggins and McCullough Alva Baker, were immigrants from Nevis, in the Caribbean. Her mother was a domestic worker, and her father worked as a chef for different Yale University student societies, including the secret society Skull and Bones.Rachel Baker was a founder of the New Haven NAACP and Motley was exposed to African American history, especially the writings of W.E.B. DuBois, in her Sunday School. While in high school, Motley became president of the New Haven Youth Council and was secretary of the New Haven Adult Community Council. In 1939, she graduated with honors from Hillhouse High School. Though she had already formed a desire to practice law, Motley lacked the means to attend college, and instead went to work for the National Youth Administration. She also continued her involvement in community activities and it was through this work that she encountered local businessman and philanthropist Clarence W. Blakeslee, who, after hearing Motley speak at a New Haven community center, offered to pay for her education.
With his financial help, she started college at Fisk University, a historically black college in Nashville, Tennessee, but later returned north to attend integrated New York University. At NYU, she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1943. Motley received her Bachelor of Laws in 1946 from Columbia Law School.
In October 1945, during Baker's second year at Columbia Law School, future United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall hired her as a law clerk. She was assigned to work on court martial cases that were filed after World War II.
Civil rights work
After graduating from Columbia's Law School in 1946, Baker was hired by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund as a civil rights lawyer. As the fund's first female attorney, she became Associate Counsel to the LDF, making her a lead trial attorney in a number of early and significant civil rights cases including representing Martin Luther King Jr., the Freedom Riders, and the Birmingham Children Marchers.Baker visited churches that were fire bombed, sang freedom songs, and visited Rev. Martin Luther King while he sat in jail, as well as spending a night with civil rights activist Medgar Evers under armed guard.In 1950, she wrote the original complaint in the case of Brown v. Board of Education. The first African-American woman ever to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, in Meredith v. Fair she won James Meredith's effort to be the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi in 1962. Motley was successful in nine of the ten cases she argued before the Supreme Court. The tenth decision, regarding jury composition, was eventually overturned in her favor. She was otherwise a key legal strategist in the civil rights movement, helping to desegregate Southern schools, buses, and lunch counters.
Beyond her work with LDF, Motley continued her civil rights work as an elected official. In 1964, Motley was elected to the New York State Senate and devoted much of her time to advocated for housing equality for majority-Black and Latinx, low-income tenants. Motley also endorsed urban renewal projects and looked to improve the neighborhoods in New York City that needed aid.
Political and judicial firsts
Motley was elected on February 4, 1964, to the New York State Senate, to fill the vacancy caused by the election of James Lopez Watson to the New York City Civil Court. She was the first African American woman to sit in the State Senate. She took her seat in the 174th New York State Legislature, was re-elected in November 1964 to the 175th New York State Legislature, and resigned her seat when she was chosen on February 23, 1965, as Manhattan Borough President—-the first woman in that position. In November 1965, she was elected to succeed herself for a full four-year term.Federal judicial service
Motley was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson on January 26, 1966, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated by Judge Archie Owen Dawson. Senator James Eastland of Mississippi delayed Constance Baker Motley's confirmation process for seven months. Senator Eastland was in opposition to Baker's past desegregation work including Brown v. Board of Education and Meredith v. Fair. Senator Eastland used his influence as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee to disrupt Baker's nomination and went as far as accusing her of being a member of the Communist Party. Despite opposition, she was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 30, 1966, and received her commission on August 30, 1966, becoming the first African American female federal judge. She served as Chief Judge from 1982 to 1986. She assumed senior status on September 30, 1986. Her service terminated on September 28, 2005, due to her death in New York City.Notable cases
Motley was the presiding judge on the case of Blank v. Sullivan & Cromwell, a landmark case for women lawyers. In Blank, the plaintiffs accused a law firm of sex discrimination. Due to the nature of this case and Motley's gender and race, there were calls for Motley to withdraw from the case assuming she would be biased. In response, Motley pointed to her history of impartial decisions, sometimes ruling against the plaintiff in discrimination cases.In, another highly-publicized case, Judge Motley admonished the New York City police for not providing Vietnam war protesters with adequate protection against violence in the streets.
Constance Baker Motley ruled against the plaintiff in the case of Mullarkey v. Borglum in 1970. This case involved female tenants in New York City arguing that their male landlord was violating their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The defendants cited the landlord's overreach of power but failed to detail the landlord's legal failings. Motley ruled in favor of the defendant, rejecting the plaintiffs' claim of sex discrimination and going against her former advocacy for tenants during her time in the New York State Senate.
Motley handed down a breakthrough decision for women in sports broadcasting in 1978, when she ruled that a female reporter must be allowed into a Major League Baseball
Honors
She received a Candace Award for Distinguished Service from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women in 1984. In 1993, she was inducted into National Women's Hall of Fame. In 2001, President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Citizens Medal. The NAACP awarded her the Spingarn Medal, the organization's highest honor, in 2003. Motley was a prominent honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Motley in early 2006, was honored by Senators Charles Schumer, and Hillary Clinton with the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously. As Motley had a distinguished career in civil rights, the senators only thought it fitting to award her. In 2011, She was honored posthumously with the for her work to improve the African American community.Personal life
Constance Baker married Joel Motley, Jr., a real estate and insurance broker, in 1946 at Saint Luke's Episcopal Church in New Haven, Connecticut. They were married until her death of congestive heart failure on September 28, 2005, fourteen days after her 84th birthday, at NYU Downtown Hospital in New York City. Her funeral was held at the Connecticut church where she had been married; a public memorial service was held at Riverside Church in Manhattan. She left one son, Joel Wilson Motley III, co-chairman of Human Rights Watch, and three grandchildren, Hannah Motley, Ian Motley, and Senai Motley.During the early twenty-first century, Motley became a part of the , a foundation dedicated to preserving African American judges who improve the African American community through their work.Legacy
During her time as a federal judge for the Southern District of New York, she made efforts to reach out to other African-American women in her position. One of the women she reached out to was Judge Ann Thompson who received a personal note from Motley on the day she was appointed to be a judge for the District of New Jersey.With her work on Ludtke v. Kuhn, Constance Baker Motley became a pivotal figure to Melissa Ludtke. Ludtke published an article praising the work that Motley accomplished throughout her life despite the discrimination in 2018.
Senator Kamala Harris explicitly cites Constance Baker Motley's influence on her own political and law career on her campaign page.
An award-winning biographical documentary, Justice is a Black Woman: The Life and Work of Constance Baker Motley,was first broadcast on Connecticut Public Television