Book

Brown-Nagin, Tomiko, 1970- author.

Civil rights queen : Constance Baker Motley and the struggle for equality / Tomiko Brown-Nagin.

First Vintage books edition.

New York : Vintage Books, [2023]

©2022

x, 497 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm

Brown-Nagin captures the story of Constance Baker Motley, a remarkable figure who remade law and inspired the imaginations of African Americans across the country. Born to an aspirational blue-collar family during the Great Depression, Motley was expected to find herself a good career as a hair dresser. Instead, she became the first Black woman to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court, the first of ten she would eventually argue. The only Black woman member in the legal team at the NAACP's Inc. Fund at the time, she defended Martin Luther King in Birmingham, helped to argue in Brown vs. The Board of Education, and played a critical role in vanquishing Jim Crow laws throughout the South. She was the first Black woman elected to the state Senate in New York, the first woman elected Manhattan Borough President, and the first Black woman appointed to the federal judiciary. --From publisher description.

Motley, Constance Baker, 1921-2005.

Judges -- New York (State) -- Biography.

African American judges -- New York (State) -- Biography.

African American women lawyers -- New York (State) -- Biography.

Women lawyers -- New York (State) -- Biography.

Women judges -- New York (State) -- Biography.

Lawyers -- New York (State) -- Biography.

Civil rights workers -- New York (State) -- Biography.

Civil rights lawyers -- New York (State) -- Biography.

Civil rights -- United States.

Equality before the law -- United States.

Biography.

Biographies.

Constance Baker Motley and the struggle for equality

Includes bibliographical references (pages 445-468) and index.

Beginnings. "The base of this great ambition": Nevis and New Haven -- "I discovered myself": the Great Depression, the New Deal, and the dawn of a political conscience -- "Like a fairy tale": Black exceptionalism, philanthropy, and a path to higher education -- A fortuitous meeting with "Mr. Civil Rights": Thurgood Marshall and an offer not to be refused -- "They hovered over and cared for each other": the uncommon union of Constance Baker and Joel Motley Jr. -- Becoming the civil rights queen. "A professional woman": Breaking barriers at work and in the courtroom -- "We all felt the excruciating pressure": making history in Brown v. Board of Education -- "The fight has just begun": the decade-long slog to desegregate the University of Florida College of Law -- "We made a mistake": "poor character," "loose morals," and untold sacrifices in pursuit of higher education at the University of Alabama -- The heights and depths of life as a symbol and agent of change. The "best plaintiffs ever": desegregating the University of Georgia -- A "difficulty with the idea of a woman": the setback of 1961 -- "That's your case": James Meredith and the battle to desegregate the University of Mississippi -- "I am human after all": trauma and hardship in the long battle at Ole Miss -- An "eye-opening experience": the Birmingham civil rights campaign --

A season in politics. "An ideal candidate": the making of a political progressive -- "Crisis of leadership": a clash between radical and reform politics -- "Not a feminist": the Manhattan Borough presidency -- On the bench. "First": the judicial confirmation -- "A tough old bird": Judge Motley's court -- "The weeping and the wailing": the Black Panther Party, the FBI, and the Huggins Family -- "Pawns in a very dangerous game": crime, punishment, and prisoners' rights -- A "woman lawyer" and a "woman judge": making opportunity for women in law -- "For a girl, you know a lot about sports": the New York Yankees strike out in Judge Motley's courtroom -- No "protecting angel": Blacks, Latinos, and ordinary people in Judge Motley's courtroom -- Legacies.

KF373.M64 .B76 2022

9780525436102

828326

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