As the nation awaits the promised appointment by President Joe Biden of a Black woman to the United States Supreme Court, it is appropriate to recall the life and legacy of Constance Baker Motley. She holds the distinction of being the first Black woman to serve as a federal judge, appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966. The publication of Harvard University Professor Tomiko Brown-Nagin’s biography Civil Rights Queen – Constance BakerMotley and the Struggle for Equality (Pantheon Book, New York 2022) could not be timelier.
This well-researched and thoroughly readable biography not only tells the story of one woman’s rise to success as a Civil Rights lawyer, politician and judge, it also gives a unique feminist perspective of the Civil Rights Movement while chronicling some of the major Civil Rights battles of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
The difficult part of reading the book is the retelling of the depth of racial hatred that spurred white segregationists like George Wallace, Birmingham police chief Bull Conner and the scores of our fellow Americans who fought to keep schools and institutions racially segregated. The fears that the ugly head of racism and white power is resurfacing is the subliminal message that is hard for the reader to miss.
Constance Baker was born in 1921 to parents who had immigrated from the Caribbean Island of Nevis. Her parents, like other immigrants from the island, settled in New Haven, Connecticut because of the job opportunities at Yale — not in academia but in jobs as cooks and servants. For many years her father earned a living cooking meals at the prestigious Skull and Bones club, whose membership included several future presidents. While the pay was decent, scraps from the table helped feed the Baker family that was made up of 12 children during the depression of the 1930s.
After graduating with honors from high school, Constance had a dream of higher education and becoming a lawyer. But in the depths of the depression, funds for college, especially for a girl, were out of the question. She started working menial jobs but did not give up her dream. Through a chance encounter at a community meeting, she met Clarence W. Blakeslee, a philanthropist who supported many charitable causes. He was so impressed with her that he agreed to finance her education — even through law school.
During a semester at the historically Black Fisk University in Nashville Tennessee, Constance experienced southern-style Jim Crow for the first time. The next semester she moved to New York and completed her undergraduate and law degree at Columbia University, graduating in 1946.
Sadly, in the 1940s, prospects for a woman lawyer were anything but good. Even future Justice Sandra Day O’Conner, who graduated at the top of her class at Stanford in 1953, was only offered a job as a legal secretary. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, tied for first place in the Columbia Law School class of 1959, had a similar fate. But another chance encounter in 1946 landed Motley an interview with Thurgood Marshall, the head of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. It was there she found her niche.
During her years at the Legal Defense Fund, she worked on some of the most important cases brought by the NAACP, including writing the briefs for the landmark 1954 case of Brown v. Board of Education that banned school segregation. But her sex often left her out of the mainstream coverage of these cases.
She represented James Meredith in his fight to integrate the University of Mississippi; Black teachers in several southern states who were paid less than white teachers with equal skills; wrongfully convicted prisoners and Civil Rights demonstrators throughout the south.
As a Black lawyer and a woman, she was a novelty in southern court houses and was frequently subjected to insults and racial slurs from racist judges and lawyers. Southern judges often refused to refer to her as Mrs. Motley, frequently just saying “that New York lawyer.” But she handled these situations with grace and charm.
Her outstanding skills as an orator and ability to think on her feet added to her success. Believed to be the first Black woman to argue a case before the United States Supreme Court, her legal arguments and abilities brought praise from Justice William O. Douglass and U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.
But all was not rosy for Motley. She juggled being a wife and mother — often having to spend long periods of time away from her husband and son. She suffered from a lack of pay equity, even at the NAACP. She was sorely disappointed when Marshall left the Legal Defense Fund to become an appellate judge and promoted Jack Greenberg, a white man with less experience to head the organization. But this did not stymie her ambition. She would go on to be the first Black woman to serve in the New York State Senate and the first woman to serve as Borough President of Manhattan.
Brown-Nagin, who writes from a 21st century feminist perspective, does not pull any punches when she talks about the chauvinistic attitudes of many men in the Civil Rights movement, including Martin Luther King and Thurgood Marshall. This adds a unique perspective to the book, as she demonstrates that many women in the movement never achieved the recognition that they were entitled to.
The final section, dealing with Motley’s career as a judge, is a good explanation of the interplay between the personal experiences of a judge and how a judge’s background merges with the role of a judicial officer. There are also detailed discussions of several key cases that Motley ruled on involving prisoner’s rights, equal pay for women and the ability of female journalist to go into sports locker rooms. For lawyer and non-lawyer, these explanations are extremely informative.
Even though she was a Democrat, during the administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, there was speculation that Motley would be elevated to the federal appellate court or the United States Supreme Court. But that was not to be. As Attorney General Ramsey Clark stated at the time, “History sometimes misses its chances.” She did achieve another first when she served as the first women to be the Chief Judge of the Federal District Court of the Southern District of New York from 1982 to 1986 before her retirement. She passed away in 2005. Her husband of 59 years, Joel Motley Jr., died within months of her death.
The Black woman who gets the next appointment to the United States Supreme Court will clearly stand on the shoulders of Constance Baker Motley and she will have big shoes to fill. As the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in eulogizing Judge Motley, “She taught me and other of my generation that the law and courts could become positive forces in achieving our nation’s high aspiration — carved about the entrance to the U.S. Supreme Court — Equal Justice Under the Law.”
According to an article published by Pew Research on February 2, 2022, of the 3,843 persons who have served as Federal Judges, only 70 or 2% have been Black women.
Of the 15 federal judges who currently sit in the Northern District of Ohio, only Benita Pierson is a Black Female. Bankruptcy Judge Tiiara N. Patton is also African American.
There have been two Black male judges on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio: the late George W. White and Solomon Oliver, who is now on senior status. Charles E. Fleming, son of the late Cleveland Municipal Judge Charles E. Fleming, was recently nominated and confirmed to sit on the same bench. He has yet to be sworn in. Randolph Baxter, also African American, served as a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge until he retired in 2011.
C. Ellen Connally is a retired judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court. From 2010 to 2014 she served as the President of the Cuyahoga County Council. An avid reader and student of American history, she serves on the Board of the Ohio History Connection, is currently vice president of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers and Sailors Monument Commission and president of the Cleveland Civil War Round Table. She holds degrees from BGSU, CSU and is all but dissertation for a PhD from the University of Akron.
One Response to “BOOK REVIEW: “Civil Rights Queen” by Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Reviewed by C. Ellen Connally”
Donald Freedheim
Ellen Connelly’s review of the Brown-Nagin biography of Judge Motley is a comprehensive and informative essay. It points to the importance of Judge Motley’s story at a critical time in our nation. The review emphasizes the need to read this book to understand where women, and especially women of color, stand in the judicial system today..