Constance Baker Motley

Judge Motley (1921-2005) was a woman of firsts. She was the first Black woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, to serve as a federal court judge (Southern District of New York), and to sit in the New York State Senate. She was also the first woman to hold the office of President of the Borough of Manhattan. Earlier in her career she was a law clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense fund's first woman attorney. She also represented Dr. Martin Luther King and the Freedom Riders.

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