At the height of the civil rights movement, Constance Baker Motley joined the NAACP’s legal team. The only woman in the group, she left her husband and infant son in New York for weeks at a time to represent the NAACP in Southern courts. The first female Black lawyer Southern judges and juries had seen, she stunned them by winning case after case – gaining the right for Black students to enter Ole Miss, The University of Georgia, and Clemson College. After the assassination of one of her closest friends, she returned to New York – and went on to become the first black woman N.Y. State Senator, the first black woman Manhattan Borough President, and, with the backing of Lyndon Johnson, the first black woman named to a federal judgeship. With archival footage and narration in Motley’s own voice, The Trials of Constance Baker Motley tells the story of a civil rights leader who met prejudice and danger with elegance and humor.
Date: Saturday, February 20, 4PM
Location: Glicker-Milstein Theatre, Diana Center LL200
Q&A session to follow screening
By purchasing a ticket to the Shorts Program you may also attend the Gender & Short Films: Emerging Female Filmmakers and the Barriers Surrounding Their Careers panel following Shorts Program 1 on a first come first serve basis.
Filmmaker Bio:
Rick Rodgers’ short documentary The Trials of Constance Baker Motley won the audience award at the 2015 Austin Film Festival. The film had its world premiere at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival. AMOK, his first feature film, was recently awarded best feature film at both the 2015 UK Film Festival and the 2015 Williamsburg Independent Film Festival. His short films F—K (2010) and Crash & Burn (2011) had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. He is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design.
