Constance Baker Motley, who broke racial barriers as lawyer, judge, honored with U.S. postage stamp

U.S. District Court Judge Constance Baker Motley, the first woman to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court, was honored with a U.S. postal stamp in her image, unveiled on Wednesday as the 47th in the Black Heritage series.

The unveiling came at the Black History Month celebration in Hempstead at the Joysetta & Julius Pearse African American Museum of Nassau County. It featured Hempstead public school students performing songsand  dances, a presentation and a re-enactment of the judge's life.

Born in Connecticut to immigrant parents from the West Indies, Motley was a front-line lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and led the litigation that integrated the Universities of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, successfully championing the rights of minorities to protest peacefully. While working under future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, she wrote the complaint for Brown v. Board of Education.

On several occasions, she represented the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and visited him once while he sat in jail. 

After leaving the NAACP in 1965, she entered New York elected politics, becoming the first African American woman in the state Senate, and the first woman elected Manhattan borough president.

President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed her to the bench of the Southern District of New York in 1966, the first Black woman ever appointed to that position.

Judge Brianna A. Vaughan, the youngest person ever elected judge of the Village of Hempstead and keynote speaker of the event, said that although she didn't learn of Motley until working as a prosecutor with the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, Motley “paved the way” for women like her.

Acting Supreme Court Justice Philippe Solages said meeting Motley at a Metropolitan Black Bar Association event inspired him to become a judge.

“She shattered a glass ceiling that had never been shattered before,” he said.

Jeanette Perry, of Elmont, Motley's great niece and a postal service employee, also attended the celebration. It wasn't until 2003, when Perry attended her brother's graduation at Columbia University, that her mother “just nonchalantly” mentioned that Motley, the keynote speaker, was her great aunt. Perry's grandfather was Motley's cousin but had died before she was born. 

She stayed in touch with Motley until her death in 2005. Decades later, she was elated to learn about her great-aunt's stamp and recognition. 

“We're very proud of everything what that she's done,” said Perry. “Just being on a stamp, it's like the cherry on top.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly named the acting Supreme Court justice who spoke about Motley's impact on him. He is Acting Supreme Court Justice Philippe Solages.