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Constance Baker Motley (1921–2005) was an American jurist and politician who served as a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. A key strategist of the civil rights movement, she was a New York state senator and the borough president of Manhattan in New York City before becoming a United States federal judge. She obtained a role with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund as a staff attorney in 1946 after receiving her law degree, and continued her work with the organization for more than twenty years. She was the first Black woman to argue at the Supreme Court and argued ten landmark civil rights cases, winning nine. She was a law clerk to Thurgood Marshall, aiding him in the case Brown v. Board of Education. Motley was also the first African-American woman appointed to the federal judiciary, serving as a judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. This photograph shows Motley celebrating her election as the first African-American woman to serve in the New York State Senate in 1964.Photograph credit: Walter Albertin; restored by Adam Cuerden