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by Randy CassinghamRandy Cassingham's Honorary Unsubscribe Recognizes the Unknown, the Forgotten and the Obscure People who Had an Impact on Our Lives
Constance Baker Motley
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Motley was a lawyer, and decided on that profession at 15, when she went to a public beach and was turned away because she was black. She fought for civil rights as an attorney for the NAACP Legal and Educational Defense Fund for 20 years, plotting strategy for landmark legal cases including the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education case that ended the "separate but equal" doctrine. Motley argued 10 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court -- and won nine of them. "If you are a master of the facts, a master of the record, and also master of the best argument the other side can make," said William T. Coleman Jr., former U.S. Secretary of Transportation, "you can usually prevail. And she did." Motley was the first black woman to argue before the Supreme Court, the first black woman to be appointed a federal judgeship, and the first black female New York state senator. She died September 28 from congestive heart failure. She was 84.
From This is True for 25 September 2005
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