When she was a teenager Judge Motley was turned away from a public bench due to her race. This encounter inspired her to pursue a career in law. She earned her law degree from Columbia Law School and began working at the NAACP legal defense fund in 1946. She represented Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. along with many other freedom riders. Also, she worked on many civil rights cases such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In 1964 she made history as the first African American woman elected to the New York Senate and became the first African American woman to be a federal judge.
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