Judge Constance Baker Motley, 84
Posted: Wednesday, September 28th, 2005 7:09 pmNEW YORK — Federal Judge Constance Baker Motley, who as a young lawyer represented Martin Luther King Jr. and played a pivotal role in the nation’s civil rights struggle, has died. She was 84.
Motley died Tuesday, said Chief Judge Michael Mukasey in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where she served. She had been working on cases last week before she was hospitalized.
Motley’s career found her fighting in many of the nation’s landmark segregation cases. After a brief political career, she became the first black woman appointed to the federal bench in 1966. …
Her interest in civil rights grew after she was turned away at age 15 from a public beach because she was black. …
In the late 1950s, Motley took an interest in politics and by 1964 had left the NAACP and become the first black woman to serve in the New York State Senate.
In 1965, she became the first woman president of the borough of Manhattan, where she worked to decrease racial segregation in public schools.
In 1966, President Johnson nominated her to the federal bench in Manhattan. She was confirmed nine months later, though her appointment was opposed by conservative federal judges and southern politicians. … Read full obituary
