constance baker motley and the struggle for equality. what drew you to tell johnson baker motley's story. thank you so much. i'm delighted to be here to celebrate the law library of congress anniversary and to be in conversation with you about my book, civil rights queen. the book is life and times of constance baker motley, who was a path breaker in three different realms. first, she was a civil rights lawyer who helped to litigate cases such as brown versus board of education. the case that desegregated ole miss, universe of alabama, university of georgia. and through her work, a civil rights lawyer, she brought, us, the world that we know today, one in which racial discrimination is proscribed under law and the achievement by achievement is open to everyone, regardless of and gender. after she had litigated all of those cases changed the world for us. constance baker motley broke barriers in politics. she was the first woman elected manhattan borough president. she was the first black woman elected to the new york senate. and then afte

constance baker motley and the struggle for equality. what drew you to tell johnson baker motley's story. thank you so much. i'm delighted to be here to celebrate the law library of congress anniversary and to be in conversation with you about my book, civil rights queen. the book is life and times of constance baker motley, who was a path breaker in three different realms. first, she was a civil rights lawyer who helped to litigate cases such as brown versus board of education. the case that desegregated ole miss, universe of alabama, university of georgia. and through her work, a civil rights lawyer, she brought, us, the world that we know today, one in which racial discrimination is proscribed under law and the achievement by achievement is open to everyone, regardless of and gender. after she had litigated all of those cases changed the world for us. constance baker motley broke barriers in politics. she was the first woman elected manhattan borough president. she was the first black woman elected to the new york senate. and then afte

and yet constance baker was a young girl. she is not expected to go very far. however she was incredibly intelligent, ambitious, teachers introduce her to the work of james weldon johnson, she decided pretty early on she wanted to be a lawyer should hold a family and friends about this she said you must be crazy. women do not get anywhere and yet she was able she was able to attend college and law school because she gave a talk at a social club in new haven, which happened to be attended by clarence a break jim blakely was a graduate of gayle wealthy man philanthropist who heard her speak and said to her after words, why aren't you in college? because you clearly should be. and he offered to pay for her college and her law school tuition. ad she said it was like fairytale who could be plucked in that way. his oror her on this course for she was to attend law school and got her first job out of law school with marshaled naacp legal defense fund. and stayed for 20 years during which time most of that time she was the only woman. just to say a little bit about who

the book wicca to be talking today is civil rights queen constance baker motley and the struggle for equality. kate clifford larson is a distinguished scholar whose order books include a biography of harry tubman, rosemary the hidden to the daughter, and the assassins accomplice to plot to kill every liggett. today will about walk with me a biography of fannie lou hammer. so i am going to assume that many of youou are like me. maybe the levit about fannie lou. lou. maybe haven't heardtl anything about constants. i'm hoping that you introduced us to the subjects of these books. tamiko, yours is i think unjustly harassed less known. when you please tell a little about constance motley who she was and why you chose her? >> sure. happy too, thank you neda thanks to all of you for being here this morning. delighted to share about constance baker motley who is a legendary lawyer who in her time was very well known. i set out to write about her because it is the case that people today don't know her to the extent that they should. legendary civil rights lawyer who litigated the cases that m

angel notley, constance baker motley son.the chairman marris of the board of human rights watch. thanks so much for being here. mr. motley, what would your mother say about this moment in history? >> there is no doubt she would be thrilled. she believed in progress, and that has enabled her to accomplish many of the things that she did. but now justice jackson, embodies all of the great things of my mother admired, and pioneer. >> dean holly, what will you tell your students about the achievement of justice jackson, and what it means? >> jonathan, it was such an important moment, in the sense that in the legal profession, we want to tell students that there are no barriers to what they can achieve, and what they will do, and until justice jackson was officially sworn in there is still a very or, there never been a black woman on the u.s. supreme court, and now that barrier is no longer there, so is truly a story moment, and one in which so many people in our profession and around the world people who aren't lawyers can look t

and judge ketanji brown jackson, who cited constance baker motley as a role model. so, motley is a person who should be well known by all of us, because, as i said, she really did lay the groundwork for modern american society, changing the legal and social landscape. >> and fannie lou hamer? ms. larson: fannie lou hamer rose up to become an incredible leader in the 1960's, but as was brought up, she had an entirely different life trajectory than constance. it cannot be underestimated the deprivation and poverty that she was born into. in 1917 the 20th child of a mississippi sharecropper, and her life was defined by a hunger , lack of access to health care, education. she attained a six grade education, and also the incredible violence that permeated life in mississippi. and she rose out of those circumstances as an adult to become a path breaker and to really change the landscape. she came out of the earth of mississippi and was very different than the elite civil rights organizers and figures we know so well today. the martin luther king's of the world and others