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Constance Baker Motley
(1921–2005) was an American jurist and politician who served as a judge of the
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
. A key strategist of the
civil rights movement
, she was a
New York state senator
and the
borough president
of
Manhattan
in New York City before becoming a
United States federal judge
. She obtained a role with the
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
as a staff attorney in 1946 after receiving her law degree, and continued her work with the organization for more than twenty years. She was the first Black woman to argue at the Supreme Court and argued ten landmark civil rights cases, winning nine. She was a law clerk to
Thurgood Marshall
, aiding him in the case
Brown v. Board of Education
. Motley was also the first African-American woman appointed to the federal judiciary, serving as a judge for the
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
. This photograph shows Motley celebrating her election as the first African-American woman to serve in the New York State Senate in 1964.
Photograph credit: Walter Albertin; restored by
Adam Cuerden
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