Born: September 14, 1921, New Haven, CT

Education: Fisk University, 1941; New York University, A.B., 1943; Columbia Law School, LL.B., 1946

Died: September 28, 2005, New York, NY

NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) lawyer, Motley argued major desegregation cases and earned distinction in public service.

She rose by means of ability. Daughter of West Indian immigrants and the ninth of twelve children, she instilled values of education and hard work. Thanks to a New Haven, Connecticut philanthropist, Motley finished college. She then earned a law degree and clerked for LDF.

By 1950 she had become a superb litigator, mainly assisting Robert Carter with school segregation cases. She co-wrote the initial brief in Brown and, by 1957, represented the nine black students who integrated Little Rock, Arkansas’ Central High School. She presented ten oral arguments to the US Supreme Court and won nine, desegregating schools and the universities of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Clemson University. Meredith v. Fair (1962) resulted not only in James Meredith's enrollment at Ole Miss but also in deadly rioting on the campus.

Appointed and elected to the New York State Senate (1964), Motley was its first black female senator. Other firsts included her term as Manhattan Borough president (1965), the best-paid position ever held by a black woman, and a federal judgeship (1966). Inducted to the National Women's Hall of Fame, she also received the Presidential Citizens Medal (2001).