Constance Baker Motley

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 Suggestions for further reading: The Help by Kathryn Stockett Amazon Price: $9.50 Customer Review: I loved this book. It was informational about the 1960s in the South. So well written from the perspectives of different people. I can't wait to lend it out to everyone I know.   Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn Amazon Price: $16.34 Customer Review: Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn outline the gravity and magnitude of the issues that affect women across the globe - trafficking, rape as a tool of war, access to health care, institutionalized oppression et cetera. The book provides human conn...   Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky Amazon Price: $10.08 Customer Review: Saul Alinsky's book, "Rules for Radicals", lays out some practical points. Unfortunately, many are contradicted in other parts of the book. His moral relativism seems to grant permission for adherents to his philosophy to do anything they want, as ...   Constitutional Chaos: What Happens When the Government Breaks Its Own Laws by Andrew P. Napolitano Amazon Price: $10.19 Customer Review: I have not finished it yet and I am ready to get the pitchforks and torches, figuratively. In recent years, the government has been shaking my belief in government and I have been reading the founding fathers who considered government a necessary ev...   A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah Amazon Price: $8.64 Customer Review: Wow, words can not describe this memoir. Really was eye opening to read, makes you re-evaluate all the things that we tend to take for granted.   Newsfeed display by CaRP

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