Constance Baker Motley

Constance Baker Motley was a civil-rights lawyer whose work with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund helped challenge segregation in landmark cases. She later became a New York state senator, Manhattan borough president, and the first African American woman to serve as a federal judge. As a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, she became chief judge in 1982 and served until her death in 2005.