"Constance Baker Motely" (September 14,1921-September 28, 2005)

Was an African-American civil rights activist,lawyer,judge,state senator,and Borough

President of of Manhattan,New York City.She was born in New Haven Connecticut,the ninth of twelve children.Her parents had immigrated from Nevis,Caribbean;her mother was the founder of the New Haven chapter of the NAACP.With financial help from a local philanthropist,Clarence Blakeslee,she initially attended Fisk University,a historically black college in Tennessee,before deciding to move to an integrated university.Constance graduated from New York University in 1943,then received her law degree from Columbia Law School in 1946.Her legal career began as a law clerk in the fledgling NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF),where she worked with Thurgood Marshall,Jack Greenberg,and others.The LDF's first female attorney,she became Associate Counsel to the LDF making her a lead trial attorney trial attorney.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 successfully won James Meredith's effort to be the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi in 1962.She 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.In 1964, Constance became the first African-American elected to the New City Senate.In 1965,she was chosen Manhattan Borough President-the first woman in that position.In 1966,President Lydon Johnson named her a federal court judge-the first African American so named-where she continued (including a term as chief judge) until her death. At the time of her death,she was a district judge for the United States District Court Southern District of New York.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 Springarn Medal,the organization's highest honor,in 2003.She was a prominent honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority,inc.Constance died of congestive heart failure  NYU Downtown Hospital in New York City.Her funeral was held at saint Luke's Episcopal Church in New Haven,Connecticut where she was married years earlier.