Stamp of Approval

An attorney who fought nearly every important civil rights case for two decades before becoming the first Black woman to serve as a federal court judge in 1966, Constance Baker Motley is key figure in African American history. It was Gary L. Ford Jr. ’95 who brought her back into the light with his 2028 biography, Constance Baker Motley: One Woman’s Fight for Civil Rights and Equal Justice Under Law. “To witness Judge Motley in action was to be fortified and astounded,” wrote Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard. “Now, thanks to Ford, a new generation can bear witness to her immense talents.”

So, when the U.S. Postal Service officially unveiled a stamp commemorating Motley in January, Ford was there. Two weeks later, on February 11, he was the keynote speaker at another unveiling at Motley’s home church in New Haven, Conn.

“For over a decade we’ve been working to correct the historical narrative of the traditional Civil Rights Movement to include Judge Motley,” said Ford, who believes she “deserves to be spoken of in the same breath” as Thurgood Marshall, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and James Meredith. Motley worked with Marshall on 1954’s Brown v. Board of Education case, and represented King and Meredith, who was the first African American student admitted to the University of Mississippi.

The stamp, which depicts a portrait of Motley by artist Charly Palmer, is the 47th issue in the USPS’ Black Heritage Series.

“I believe this stamp will be the thing that gets Judge Motley the national name recognition that she deserves,” Ford explained. “It will help to cement her legacy as a change agent, civil rights ‘shero,’ and a role model for all Americans.”