Connecticut Bar Foundation and Connecticut Bar Association are honored to present the Constance Baker Motley Speaker Series on Racial Inequality
An ongoing forum for the Connecticut legal community to explore issues of racial inequality and systemic racism.
This series is named in honor of civil rights trailblazer Judge Constance Baker Motley with the goal of supporting and fostering renewed commitment to advancing civil rights and social justice.
About Constance Baker Motley (1921-2005)
Born and raised in New Haven, Connecticut, Judge Motley was recognized by Resolution of the United States House of Representatives of the 110th Congress in 2007 for her “lifelong commitment to the advancement of civil rights and social justice.”
Motley was the first female staff attorney at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (LDF), hired by then Chief Counsel Thurgood Marshall. She argued and won many of the defining cases in the civil rights movement, including those to desegregate schools and universities, housing, transportation, and public accommodations. Motley later became the first Black woman appointed as a federal judge, rising to Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1982.
