We the People NCC Revisited: Women and the American Idea
Mar 5, 2026
Elizabeth Cobbs, historian and author of Fearless Women, pairs feminist lives across eras. Tomiko Brown-Nagin, legal historian of Civil Rights Queen, traces Constance Baker Motley's legal battles. They discuss women shaping constitutional change, landmark litigation and reform, and the intersections of race, law, and feminist activism in American history.
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Constance Baker Motley's Unexpected Rise
- Constance Baker Motley rose from a working-class New Haven childhood to Columbia Law and was paid for by a Yale alumnus who heard her speak.
- Thurgood Marshall hired her on the spot and she became the only woman lawyer at the Legal Defense Fund for 20 years.
Litigation as Implementation of Constitutional Change
- Motley litigated landmark civil rights cases including Brown v. Board and implemented desegregation across Southern cities.
- Her litigation enabled thousands of Black students to enter formerly all-white schools and desegregated higher education.
Pairing Public Faces with Human Stories
- Elizabeth Cobbs frames feminist progress as incremental rungs from the Revolution to today, pairing a public 'face of feminism' with a 'why we care' figure in each chapter.
- This structure links civic accomplishments to human costs, e.g., pairing Abigail Adams with Abigail Bailey.
