Civil Rights Queen Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality

by Brown-Nagin, Tomiko

• ISBN13: 9781524747183
• ISBN10: 1524747181
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2022-01-25
• Publisher: Pantheon

Summary

A TIME BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • The first major biography of one of our most influential judges—an activist lawyer who became the first Black woman appointed to the federal judiciary—that provides an eye-opening account of the twin struggles for gender equality and civil rights in the 20th Century. • “Timely and essential."—The Washington Post

“A must-read for anyone who dares to believe that equal justice under the law is possible and is in search of a model for how to make it a reality.” —Anita Hill

With the US Supreme Court confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson, “it makes sense to revisit the life and work of another Black woman who profoundly shaped the law: Constance Baker Motley” (CNN). Born to an aspirational blue-collar family during the Great Depression, Constance Baker 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.
    
Civil Rights Queen captures the story of a remarkable American life, a figure who remade law and inspired the imaginations of African Americans across the country. Burnished with an extraordinary wealth of research, award-winning, esteemed Civil Rights and legal historian and dean of the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, Tomiko Brown-Nagin brings Motley to life in these pages. Brown-Nagin compels us to ponder some of our most timeless and urgent questions--how do the historically marginalized access the corridors of power? What is the price of the ticket? How does access to power shape individuals committed to social justice? In Civil Rights Queen, she dramatically fills out the picture of some of the most profound judicial and societal change made in twentieth-century America.

Author Biography

TOMIKO BROWN-NAGIN is Dean of Harvard's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School, and Professor of History at Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. In 2019, she was appointed chair of the Presidential Committee on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, of the American Philosophical Society, and of the American Law Institute, and a distinguished lecturer for the Organization of American Historians. Her previous book, Courage to Dissent won the Bancroft Prize in 2011. She frequently appears as a commentator in media. She lives in Boston with her family.

Table of Contents

Introduction . . . 3
 
PART I. BEGINNINGS
1. “The Base of This Great Ambition”: Nevis and New Haven . . . 15
2. “I Discovered Myself”: The Great Depression, the New Deal, and the Dawn of a Political Conscience . . . 28
3. “Like a Fairy Tale”: Black Exceptionalism, Philanthropy, and a Path to Higher Education . . . 39
4. A Fortuitous Meeting with “Mr. Civil Rights”: Thurgood Marshall and an Offer Not to Be Refused . . . 53
5. “They Hovered Over and Cared for Each Other”: The Uncommon Union of Constance Baker and Joel Motley Jr. . . . 56
 
PART II. BECOMING THE CIVIL RIGHTS QUEEN
6. “A Professional Woman”: Breaking Barriers at Work and in the Courtroom . . . 65
7. “We All Felt the Excruciating Pressure”: Making History in Brown v. Board of Education . . . 79
8. “The Fight Has Just Begun”: The Decade-Long Slog to Desegregate the University of Florida College of Law . . . 91
9. “We Made a Mistake”: “Poor Character,” “Loose Morals,” and Untold Sacrifices in Pursuit of Higher Education at the University of Alabama . . . 98
 
PART III. THE HEIGHTS AND DEPTHS OF LIFE AS A SYMBOL AND AGENT OF CHANGE
10. The “Best Plaintiffs Ever”: Desegregating the University of Georgia . . . 113
11. A “Difficulty with the Idea of a Woman”: The Setback of 1961 . . . 126
12. “That’s Your Case”: James Meredith and the Battle to Desegregate the University of Mississippi . . . 141
13. “I Am Human After All”: Trauma and Hardship in the Long Battle at Ole Miss . . . 158
14. An “Eye-Opening Experience”: The Birmingham Civil Rights Campaign . . . 177
 
PART IV. A SEASON IN POLITICS
15. “An Ideal Candidate”: The Making of a Political Progressive . . . 201
16. “Crisis of Leadership”: A Clash Between Radical and Reform Politics . . . 217
17. “Not a Feminist”: The Manhattan Borough Presidency . . . 228
 
PART V: ON THE BENCH
18. “First”: The Judicial Confirmation . . . 247
19. “A Tough Old Bird”: Judge Motley’s Court . . . 264
20. “The Weeping and the Wailing”: The Black Panther Party, the FBI, and the Huggins Family . . . 272
21. “Pawns in a Very Dangerous Game”: Crime, Punishment, and Prisoners’ Rights . . . 283
22. A “Woman Lawyer” and a “Woman Judge”: Making Opportunity for Women in Law . . . 302
23. “For a Girl, You Know a Lot About Sports”: The New York Yankees Strike Out in Judge Motley’s Courtroom . . . 316
24. No “Protecting Angel”: Blacks, Latinos, and Ordinary People in Judge Motley’s Courtroom . . . 327
Epilogue: Legacies . . . 345

Acknowledgments . . .363
Notes . . . 367
Sources . . . 445
Index . . . 469