Constance Baker Motley

Constance Baker Motley, a law graduate of Columbia University was a life-long Civil Rights activist, fighting many of the nation’s landmark segregation cases from 1945-64. She wrote the original complaint in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, served as chief counsel for James Meredith in his fight to enter the University of Mississippi and led the defense for “Freedom Fighters” who rode interstate buses to test the success of desegregation laws.

While still a graduate student, Motley joined the staff of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. From October 1961 to December 1964, she became the first black woman to contend before the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing 10 cases and winning nine. During the following years, Motley was the first black woman to be elected into the New York State Senate and to be appointed Manhattan Borough president. Against the protests of conservative senators, President Lyndon Johnson appointed Motley the first black female Federal Court Judge in 1966. She served as the federal judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, including a term as chief judge, until her death in 2005.

Motley received many honorary degrees and more than 50 awards, including the Frederick Douglass Award from the New York Urban League and the Springarn Medal from the NAACP. In 1993, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. In 2001, President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Citizens Medal in recognition of her achievements and service to the nation. She died in 2005.

The Visionary Project includes more information and a video of Constance Baker Motley.

BLACKWELL RECIPIENTS

• May 16, 2021
  Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden

• February 3, 2021
  Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

• January 22, 2015
  Dr. Janet L. Yellen

• November 10, 2013
  The Most Reverend Doctor Katharine Jefferts Schori

• October 27, 2011
  Eunice Kennedy Shriver

• April 23, 2009
  Rabbi Sally J. Priesand

• April 24, 2008
  Dr. Wangari Maathai Sc.D.'94, P '94, P '96

• April 27, 2007
  Dr. Priscilla A. Schaffer '64, Sc.D. '94

• September 7, 2004
  Bishop Barbara Clementine Harris

• September 9, 2003
  Loretta C. Ford

• September 4, 2001
  Madeleine K. Albright

• May 15, 1998
  Billie Jean King

• February 10, 1996
  Wilma Mankiller

• September 23, 1993
  Barbara Jordan

• September 27, 1991
  Margaret Chase Smith

• February 22, 1991
  Dr. Antonia C. Novello

• February 19, 1988
  Barbara Aronstein Black

• October 9, 1985
  Cicely Saunders

• March 8, 1985
  Sandra Day O’Connor

• February 11, 1984
  Hannah Holborn Gray

• February 26, 1982
  Agnes George de Mille

• February 15, 1980
  Mary Douglas Leakey

• September 30, 1977
  Mary S. Calderone

• October 3, 1975
  Antonia Brico

• Janurary 23, 1974
  Frances Keller Harding

• May 28, 1973
  Judith Graham Pool

• June 8, 1972
  Marian Anderson

• April 10, 1972
  Mary Lasker

• June 13, 1971
  Mina Rees

• June 14, 1970
  Helen Brooke Taussig

• June 15, 1969
  Georgiana Sibley

• June 16, 1968
  Constance Baker Motley

• September 8, 1967
  Catharine Macfarlane

• July 10, 1966
  Fe del Mundo

• June 13, 1965
  Annette LeMeitour-Kaplun

• June 14, 1964
  Margaret Mead

• June 9, 1963
  Marty Mann

• June 10, 1962
  Frances Perkins

• June 18,1961
  Leona Baumgartner

• June 12, 1960
  Miki Sawada

• June 14, 1959
  Elisabeth Luce Moore

• September 27, 1958
  Gwendolyn Grant Mellon