Trailblazing Black judge honored with postage stamp

U.S. Postal Service officials along with Queens Congressmember Greg Meeks and Judge Valerie Braithwaite Nelson honored Black judge and elected official Constance Baker Motley with a commemorative postage stamp at an unveiling in Jamaica.  Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach

By Ryan Schwach

Queens Representative Greg Meeks and Appellate Division Justice Valerie Brathwaite Nelson helped unveil a postage stamp of trailblazing Black judge and politician Constance Baker Motley in Jamaica on Tuesday.

The stamp, part of a series dedicated to Black history icons, honors Baker Motley who was the first Black woman to argue before the Supreme Court and the first Caribbean-American woman appointed to the federal judiciary.

Baker Motley was a judge of the New York Southern District from 1966 to 1986. The last four years of her career, she spent as chief judge. She was also a State Senator and briefly served as Manhattan borough president.

“When you think about the life and times of Constance Baker Motley and all the things that she had to go through, and how she endured, how she moved and made us all proud,” Meeks said.

“She was born in 1921, think about what was going on in America in 1921, think about all the injustice that was taking place,” the congressman added. “People would reject folks simply because of their sex and their color. When it came to that, Justice Baker Motley would say

‘I reject the notion that my race or sex would bar my success in life.’”

Baker, working as a clerk for Supreme Court Judge Thurgood Marshall, wrote the first complaint in Brown v. Board of Education.

When arguing before the court, she won nine of 10 cases, and even that tenth decision was overturned in her favor. Her first case before the Supreme Court centered around the efforts to get the first Black student admitted to University of Mississippi.

“When she went into the courtroom, those on the other side started sweating,” said Meeks. “She was in that courtroom against all odds.”

Braithwaite Nelson, the first Black woman from Queens to serve in the state’s appellate division, said she idolized Baker Motley.

“Heroes pave the way for others,” she said. “Our heroes dismantled impediments so others could follow…Constance Baker Motley is a treasure, she changed America.”

The Queens-born judge spoke of Baker Motley’s life and career, as well as her position as a role model for Black women like herself.

“Althougn I didn’t see walking the streets of Southeast Queens when I was growing up female Black attorneys I clearly saw Constance Baker Motley. I saw this Black woman lawyer who went on to be the first woman on the federal court,” Braithwaite Nelson said. “Not only did I see her, but everyone at P.S. 134, I.S. 192, Andrew Jackson High School, saw this Black woman becoming a federal judge.”

“We believed we too could become what she had become,” she added.

The image of Baker Motley on the stamp was drawn by Charly Palmer on acrylic canvas, and is based on an old Associated Press photo.

It is currently available for purchase on the U.S. Postal Service’s website.