Connecticut civil rights pioneer to be honored on postage stamp

Connecticut native Constance Baker Motley, considered a civil rights pioneer, will be featured on a United States postal service stamp.

Motley, the first African American woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court and the first to serve as a federal judge, will be honored on a Black Heritage series Forever stamp.

Motley, born in 1921 and raised in New Haven, became a New York state senator in 1964 before becoming Borough President of Manhattan. She also served as a law clerk to Thurgood Marshall, aiding him in the case Brown v. Board of Education. 1966, Motley was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. After years of arguing landmark civil rights cases, she rose to chief judge in 1982 and senior judge in 1986. Motley died in 2005.

The stamp features a portrait of Motley by artist Charly Palmer, based on an Associated Press photograph.

The dedication ceremony is scheduled for Jan. 31, at 11 a.m. inside the Constance Baker Motley Recreation Center at 348 E. 54th St. in New York. The ceremony is free and open to the public.