Constance Baker Motley, Trailblazing Civil Rights Lawyer

Summary

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Her first big assignment came from the Fund's head, [Thurgood Marshall], who sent her south with the presumption that as a woman she would be less prone to violence. Motley's task was to assist James Meredith in his fight to integrate the University of Mississippi in 1961. Through her advice and counsel, Meredith successfully entered the college a year later. This was a great victory for the Civil Rights Movement.

"Judge Motley was a legal luminary and legendary civil rights advocate who stood shoulder to shoulder with Marshall, [William] Hastie ... Jack Greenberg and others to secure for us equal protection of the law and to strike a blow to the repressive notion of separate but equal," said Federal Magistrate Judge Randolph Treece, in a recent speech.

When she received the Spin-garn Medal, the NAACP's most prestigious award, two years ago, Board Chairman Julian Bond said: "In a distinguished legal career, Judge [Constance Baker Motley] broke down barriers almost every day. She participated in the NAACP's most important cases. Her legal brilliance illuminated many dark courtrooms where justice was denied and let its light shine in."

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Constance Baker Motley, Trailblazing Civil Rights Lawyer

"Lawyers are natural leaders and activists in the Black community," Judge Constance Baker Motley often related. "More and more Blacks will become involved in policy making agencies, in government, in politics, in business and diplomac...

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