Early Life and Education
Constance Baker’s father was a chef for Skull and Bones, an exclusive social club at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Her interest in civil rights led her to join the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) after she was denied admission to a public beach and skating rink. Unable to afford a college education despite her academic talent, she so impressed wealthy white contractor and philanthropist Clarence Blakeslee that he paid for her education. She graduated from New York University in 1943. Three years later, after earning a law degree from Columbia University in New York City, she married Joel Wilson Motley, a real estate and insurance broker.
Legacy
In 1966 U.S. Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson nominated her to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, making Motley the first Black woman to be appointed to a federal judgeship. Although opposed by Southern conservatives in the Senate, she was eventually confirmed and later became chief judge (1982) and senior judge (1986), serving in the latter post until her death.