The United States Postal Service (USPS) held an unveiling ceremony for a stamp of the late civil rights icon, Hon. Constance Baker Motley.
Over 200 people attended the ceremony at the Robert Ross Family Life Center on Linden Boulevard in Jamaica to celebrate the trailblazer’s life and legacy on Tuesday, March 18.
The event was hosted in partnership with the office of U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks and the USPS Community Advisory Council.
Attendees were treated to smooth jazz performances by the Bartlett Contemporaries and stood at attention for the presentation of colors by the VFW Colorguard of the Jamaica VFW.
Baker Motley’s stamp is the USPS’s 47th Black Heritage Forever Stamp. Darwin Peralta, postmaster for Jamaica, NY, explained that the Black Heritage stamps allow for an annual celebration of African-Americans who made significant contributions to their communities and the greater public.
“One of the most important goals of our stamp program is to raise awareness and celebrate the people, places, and things that represent the very best of our nation,” Peralta said. “That’s why I’m proud of the postal service’s annual Black heritage stamps, which shine a spotlight on distinguished African Americans and their educational, scientific, and artistic contributions to our nation,” Peralta said.
Baker Motley lived a remarkable life of many firsts. As an attorney, she was the first African American woman to appear before the Supreme Court, where she won nine of ten cases she argued. She also played an integral role in developing the legal strategies of many civil rights cases, including the notable Brown vs. Board of Education case, which ruled that segregated schools were unconstitutional.
Baker Motley was the first African American woman appointed to the federal judiciary in 1966, elected to the New York State Senate in 1964, and the first woman to serve as the Manhattan Borough President in 1965.
Rep. Meeks touched on the importance of honoring Baker-Motley’s legacy and her tenacity during the injustices enacted against her in the historical period she lived through.
“She was born in 1921. Think about what was going on in America and the injustices that were taking place,” he said. “ Think about how an African American woman had all the odds against her; think about how 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 focus in life,” Meeks said.
Meeks continued, sharing that Baker Motley decided at 15 that she wanted to be a lawyer. He added that Baker Motley’s legacy in the courtroom was one of excellence. “When she entered the courtroom, those on the other side started sweating because they knew of the excellence she was bringing,” Meeks said. “ She was in that courtroom against all odds…she moved cases and won cases that folks thought that could not be one. One of the most dynamic and historic attorneys in the history of the United States,” Meeks said.
Following Meeks’ speech, Hon. Valerie Brathwaite spoke to the crowd about how Baker-Motley was one of her inspirations in her journey within the legal field. “Although 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,” she said.
“Not only did she graduate from college with a bachelor’s degree, but to be accepted and enter a university and study law intending to become a lawyer was, again, remarkable, extraordinary; the forces in America were against her, she looked those forces straight in the eye and continued to go forward, knowing that she was going to reshape America,” Brathwaite said.
Brathwaite grew up in Hollis and was educated locally. She went on to attend Syracuse University and was accepted to George Washington University Law School, where she graduated with a Juris Doctorate degree.” I tell you this story because I want you to understand I’m from this community, I was educated in this community, and I attended the churches in this community. This is a great community; it gives rise to people who can go far in life,” she said.
Brathwaite is now an associate justice on the New York State Appellate Court, which is known as the Second Department Appellate Division. Brathwaite said learning about Baker Motley allowed her to have a role model to aspire to. “ Young people should see with their own eyes what they can become. If you can see it, you can achieve it,’ Brathwaite said.
