Constance Baker Motley was a trailblazer in the Civil Rights Movement. Motley helped craft the argument for the landmark school desegregation case Brown vs. Board of Education. She was the first Black woman to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court, winning nine of 10 landmark cases, and the first Black woman to be appointed as a federal judge in the United States.
She was born and grew up in New Haven, Connecticut. Baker Motley’s niece, Constance Royster, is a retired attorney and former director of development at the Yale Divinity School. She recently spoke with Morning Edition about the legacy of her aunt. This interview has been edited and condensed.
For someone who accomplished so much, a lot of people have heard her name, but many don't really know who she was. Tell us about her. Who was Constance Baker Motley?
You did a great introduction of her as a professional. She was, in fact, a major figure in American history that many people don't know, and she has been finally recognized with a forever stamp that was issued a year ago by the United States Postal Service, giving her some visibility nationwide as a trailblazer and major figure in United States history.
She was not only the first Black female federal judge appointed by President Lyndon Johnson, she was a New York State senator, and she was the first woman – not just Black woman, the first woman – borough president of Manhattan. So she was many, many firsts, and a role model for women and men throughout her life and career. And of course, she was my aunt.
What was it like to have her as an aunt?
She was family. And while she was a mover and shaker in the public sphere, she was a member of a close knit, very comforting family. She grew up with many brothers and sisters, and she was Aunt Connie, or some of us called her aunt Consie, and we were amazed by her accomplishments, but she was Aunt Connie.
I assume you're named after her.
I am indeed. She and my mother were like, as they say, Irish twins. They grew up together. They were in the same high school class. They graduated together from Hillhouse High School in the class of 1939.
Is there a personal memory or story that captures who she was to you?
For me, a personal story would be that when I decided, after a lot of churning, to finally step into what had been expected of me as her namesake, to go to law school. She, without hesitation, offered to let me live with her throughout law school. So it wasn't even a question. I mean, it just was, that's what she did, and that's what family does. So for three years, I lived with her.
When she was honored with a U.S. postage stamp, what did that recognition mean to you and your family?
It meant so much, really. It meant that the United States and really the world, because it went out all over the world, finally recognized what we all knew, that she was an important figure in United States history. To get that kind of recognition was a real step toward the recognition that she deserved that had not come to her in that form and in that way, really ever.
So for us, I think, even to this day and going into the future, it will resonate. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks of her whenever she can, and has written about her in her own memoir as being the figure that she most relied upon for her own progress and her own movement through her career, as well as Vice President Kamala Harris. And these are figures that we know, but she has been a major mentor for many people, people that nobody knows, and this stamp will be out there forever for everybody.
In your view, what is the most important part of her legacy?
The most important part of her legacy is that she did what she set out to do. And that is she was highly educated. Her intent was to fight for equal justice, and as a judge that fairness could be meted out to anybody who came in front of her. Her legacy was about equal justice and equality.
