Constance Baker Motley

Constance Baker Motley
Constance B. Motley, photographed on becoming the first female New York State Senator
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
In office September 30, 1986 – September 28, 2005
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
In office May 31, 1982 – September 30, 1986
Preceded by	Lloyd Francis MacMahon
Succeeded by	Charles L. Brieant
Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
In office August 30, 1966 – September 30, 1986
Appointed by	Lyndon B. Johnson
Preceded by	Archie Owen Dawson
Succeeded by	Kimba Wood
Borough President of Manhattan
In office February 23, 1965 – August 30, 1966
Preceded by	Edward R. Dudley
Succeeded by	Percy Sutton
Member of the New York Senate from the 21st district
In office February 4, 1964 – February 23, 1965
Preceded by	James Lopez Watson
Succeeded by	Jeremiah B. Bloom
Personal details
Born	Constance Baker Motley (1921-09-14)September 14, 1921 New Haven, Connecticut
Died	September 28, 2005(2005-09-28) (aged 84) New York City, New York
Cause of death	Heart Failure
Political party	Democratic
Education	New York University (B.A.) Columbia Law School (LL.B.)

Constance Baker Motley (September 14, 1921 – September 28, 2005), was a key strategist of the civil rights movement, lawyer, judge, state senator, and Borough President of Manhattan, New York City.^[1][2] She obtained a role with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund before entering law school as a staff attorney and continued her work with the organization for more than twenty years.^[3] She argued 12 landmark civil rights cases in front of the Supreme Court, winning nine. She was a law clerk to Thurgood Marshall, aiding him in the case Brown v. Board of Education.^[4] Baker Motley was also 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.^[2] Judge Motley died on September 28, 2005 in New York City of congestive heart failure.^[5]

Early life[]

Constance Baker was born on September 14, 1921, in New Haven, Connecticut, the ninth of twelve children.^[6] Her parents, Rachel Huggins and McCullough Alva Baker,^[7] were immigrants from the Caribbean Island Nevis. Before coming to the United States, Rachel worked as a seamstress and a teacher while McCullough worked as a cobbler.^[8] After they immigrated, her mother served as a domestic worker, and her father worked as a chef for different Yale University student societies, including the secret society Skull and Bones.^[9] Baker Motley describes her parents' education of being equivalent "to the tenth grade in the States."^[10] Her mother, Rachel Baker, served as a community activist. She founded the New Haven NAACP.^[11]

At 15, Baker Motley read James Weldon Johnson and W.E.B. DuBois, which inspired her interest in Black history.^[12] She met a minister that taught classes in Black history that focused her attention on civil rights and the underrepresentation of black lawyers.^[12]

While in high school, Motley became president of the New Haven Negro 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. 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.^[13]

Education[]

With his financial help, she started college at Fisk University, a historically black college in Nashville, Tennessee, but later returned north to attend 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.^[7]

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.^[7]

Civil rights work[]

Baker Motley is widely acknowledged as a major figure in the Civil Rights Movement, especially its legal battles.^[14] After graduating from Columbia's Law School in 1946, Baker was hired by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) 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.^[15] She visited Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. while he sat in jail, as well as spent a night with civil rights activist Medgar Evers under armed guard.^[14][16]

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 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.^[17][18]

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.^[15]

Political and judicial firsts[]

Motley, newly elected as Manhattan Borough President, in a photograph by

Motley was elected on February 4, 1964, to the New York State Senate (21st district), to fill the vacancy caused by the election of James Lopez Watson to the New York City Civil Court.^[19] 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.^[20] In November 1965, she was elected to succeed herself for a full four-year term. J. Raymond Jones was influential in helping her reach these positions.^[21]

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.^[22] 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.^[15] 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.^[23] 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.^[22]

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.^[24] 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.^[15]

In Belknap v. Leary, 427 F.2d 496 (2d Cir. 1970)., 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.^[13]

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.^[15]

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 locker room.^[25] In Ludtke v. Kuhn, Melissa Ludtke filed a lawsuit against Bowie Kuhn, the Major League Baseball Commissioner, The American League President Leland MacPhail, and three New York City officials over the New York Yankees gendered policy forbidding female sports reports from entering the Yankees locker room.^[26]

Honors and awards[]

Constance Baker Motley received a Candace Award for Distinguished Service from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women in 1984.^[27] In 1993, she was inducted into National Women's Hall of Fame.^[28] In 2001, President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Citizens Medal.^[6] The NAACP awarded her the Spingarn Medal, the organization's highest honor, in 2003.^[12] Motley was a prominent honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. In 2006, Motley posthumously received the Congressional Gold Medal from Congress for all of her accomplishments during her lifetime.^[29] In 2011, She was honored posthumously with the 13th Ford Freedom Award for her accomplishments that helped disadvantaged communities.^[30]

Personal life[]

Constance B. Motley with her husband Joel

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.^[31] 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.^[32] During the early twenty-first century, Motley became a part of the Just The Beginning Foundation, 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.^[33] 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.^[33]

In 2005, the University of Pennsylvania Law School's American Constitution Society (ACS) student chapter began to host National Writing Competitions annually in honor of Constance Baker Motley.^[34]

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.^[35]

Vice President Kamala Harris explicitly cites Constance Baker Motley's influence on her own political and law career on her campaign page.^[36]

An award-winning biographical documentary, Justice is a Black Woman: The Life and Work of Constance Baker Motley, was first broadcast on Connecticut Public Televisionin 2012. A documentary short, The Trials of Constance Baker Motley, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 19, 2015.^[37]

See also[]

• List of African-American jurists
• List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States

References[]

Further reading[]

• Ahmed, Siraj. “Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History: the Blackexperience in the Americas.” Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History: the Blackexperience in the Americas, by Colin A. Palmer, 2nd ed., vol. 4, Macmillan Reference USA, 2006, p. 1495.
• Hardy, Sheila; Hardy, P. Stephen (2007). Extraordinary people of the civil rights movement. New York: Children's Press. ISBN 9780516298474.
• Hudson, Cheryl; Ted Canady. “13th Annual Ford Freedom Awards Celebrates ‘Champions of Justice.’” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 11 May 2011, Ford Freedom Awards
• Pendergast, Sara; Pendergast, Tom, editors (2006). Contemporary Black biography. profiles from the international Black community. Detroit, Mich.: Thomson Gale. ISBN 9781414410203.
• Plowden, Martha Ward (2002). Famous firsts of Black women (2nd ed.). Gretna, La.: Pelican Pub. Co. ISBN 9781565541979.
• Telford Taylor, Constance Baker Motley, and James K. Feibleman, Perspectives on justice, Evanston, Ill. : Northwestern University Press, [1975].
• Constance Baker Motley, Equal justice under law: an autobiography, New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1998. ISBN 0-374-14865-1.
• Rachel Christmas Derrick, "A Columbian Ahead of Her Time", Columbia Magazine, Spring 2004.
• Hodgson, Godfrey, "Constance Baker Motley", The Guardian, Oct. 1, 2005.
• Douglas Martin, "Constance Baker Motley, Civil Rights Trailblazer, Dies at 84", The New York Times, Sept. 29, 2005.
• Larry Neumeister, "Legendary Civil Rights Lawyer Constance Baker Motley Dies at 84", Newsday (Associated Press), Sept. 28, 2005.
• Judge Constance Baker Motley - Brown@50, Howard University School of Law
• "Judge Constance Baker Motley: A Life in Pursuit of Justice", obituary notice in The Defender (newsletter of the NAACP LDF), winter 2006.
• Dale Megan Healey, "Constance Baker Motley Is the Civil Rights Movement's Unsung Heroine," Vice Magazine, April 17, 2015.
• Gary L. Ford Jr. Constance Baker Motley, One Woman’s Fight for Civil Rights and Equal Justice under Law, University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 2017. ISBN 9780817319571.
• John C. Walker, The Harlem Fox: J. Raymond Jones at Tammany 1920:1970, New York: State University New York Press, 1989.

External links[]

• Ford Freedom Awards
• FJC Bio
• Just The Beginning Foundation
• Constance Baker Motley's oral history video excerpts at The National Visionary Leadership Project
• Constance Baker Motley papers at the Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College Special Collections