Back to Press Center

Equal Justice Society Judge Constance Baker Motley Civil Rights Fellowship Luncheon

Thursday, June 1, 2006
11:00 a.m. - Pre-Event Reception
Noon - Lunch and Program
Far East Café
631 Grant Avenue, San Francisco

Featuring a candid conversation on civil rights and race relations with:

Charles J. Ogletree, Jr.
EJS Board Chair
Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

James J. Brosnahan
EJS Board Member
Senior Partner, Morrison & Foerster

Moderated by Margaret Russell
Professor of Constitutional Law
University of Santa Clara
School of Law

And featuring a performance by
Aundré the Wonderwoman

Luncheon Co-Chairs:
William F. Alderman
James J. Brosnahan
Raymond C. Marshall

Proceeds from the event will be used to fund the Equal Justice Society's new Constance Baker Motley Civil Rights Fellowship. Under the supervision of staff attorneys for one year, the Fellow may lead new research, advocacy, coalition building and public education efforts related to transforming anti-discrimination law and policy.

Equal Justice Society Launches
Constance Baker Motley Civil Rights Fellowship

Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., and James J. Brosnahan headline
benefit luncheon to honor first African American woman federal judge

SAN FRANCISCO (May 26, 2006) - A unique dialogue between two legal giants, Harvard Law Professor Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., and Morrison & Foerster senior partner James J. Brosnahan, will be the centerpiece of an event to launch a new civil rights fellowship established by the Equal Justice Society. The Constance Baker Motley Civil Rights Fellowship is aimed at nurturing the talents of a new generation of progressive lawyers to transform anti-discrimination law and policy.

The June 1 event in San Francisco's Chinatown will feature a candid conversation on civil rights and race relations between Ogletree and Brosnahan, moderated by Santa Clara University constitutional law professor Margaret Russell. Brosnahan and Russell serve on the EJS board of directors, which Ogletree chairs.

The new fellowship, named in honor of Constance Baker Motley, the first African American woman on the federal bench, will be awarded annually to a recent law school graduate committed to advancing racial justice through innovative legal strategies and progressive public policy. The first Motley fellow will begin this September and work with the organization for one year.

"Judge Motley played a major role in the ongoing effort to end racial injustice in this country," said Eva Paterson, EJS president. "Her incredible life is not only marked by how many barriers she broke on behalf of women and Black Americans, but also the considerable legal skills and talents she brought to winning Brown v. Board and to the numerous cases she heard on the bench." Judge Motley passed away last year.

The Equal Justice Society is a national advocacy organization that promotes social justice and racial equality through the strategic use of law and public policy, communication and the arts, and alliance building. As heirs of the innovative legal and political strategists of Brown v. Board of Education, the organization works to reshape jurisprudence to ensure that the rights of all are expanded, rather than diminished, by courts and policy makers.

The event will also include a performance by the engaging and clever satirist Aundre the Wonderwoman. Aundre, who has performed with comedians Steve Harvey, Paula Poundstone and Brian Copeland, may be better known in Bay Area legal circles as death penalty defense attorney Aundre Herron.

The Inaugural Constance Baker Motley Fellowship Luncheon will be held on Thursday, June 1, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. at Far East Café, 631 Grant Avenue, San Francisco. Register by calling Ron Wong at (415) 355-9988, ext. 10. Advance purchase is advised as seating is limited, but walk-ins are welcome. Visit www.equaljusticesociety.org for more information.

About Constance Baker Motley

Judge Motley (September 14, 1921-September 28, 2005) was an African American civil rights activist, lawyer, judge, and state senator. Upon hearing of the founding of the Equal Justice Society, Judge Motley stated, "Now I can relax."

In her fifty-plus years as a jurist, Motley had a major impact on ending racial discrimination. As the NAACP Legal Defense Fund's associate counsel, she participated in writing the briefs for Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark Supreme Court decision that ended school segregation. From 1961 to 1964, Motley won nine of the 10 civil rights cases she argued before the Court, including James Meredith's successful suit to attend the University of Mississippi.

She went on to shatter other gender and race barriers as the first African American woman elected to the New York state senate in 1964 and to the Manhattan borough presidency in 1965.

Appointed to a judgeship for the Southern District of New York in 1966, she became the first African American woman on the federal bench and, in 1982, the first African American woman to serve as chief judge. She assumed senior judge status in 1986, and in 2001, President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Citizens' Medal in recognition of her achievements and service to the nation.

Motley was born in New Haven, Conn., the ninth of twelve children born to immigrants from the Caribbean island of Nevis. Her mother was the founder of the New Haven chapter of the NAACP.

With financial help from a local philanthropist, she initially attended Fisk University, a historically Black college in Tennessee, before deciding to transfer to the integrated New York University.

After graduating from New York University in 1943, Motley took a well-paying job with a wartime agency that aided the dependents of servicemen. A year later, she turned down a promotion in order to attend Columbia Law School, leading her supervisor to say: "That's the dumbest thing I ever heard, a complete waste of time. Women don't get anywhere in the law."

While still a law student at Columbia, Motley met Thurgood Marshall, then the NAACP legal director, who offered her a job as a law clerk in the organization's New York office. After receiving her law degree in 1946, Motley became a full-fledged member of the NAACP legal staff.

-30-