International Womxn’s Week Book Talk: Professor Tomiko Brown-Nagin’s Civil Rights Queen

As part of the International Womxn’s Week (IWW) celebration, Professor Brown-Nagin will be discussing her new biography of Constance Baker Motley, Civil Rights Queen. The shared theme for IWW 2022 is “Access”. By “Access,” we mean two things. The first definition of the word — “a means of approaching or entering a place” — reflects the physicality of access. Access is also “the right or opportunity to use or benefit from something,” which illuminates the future work that is needed to tackle issues of accessibility, race, gender, class, and so much more in the context of both design and the legal system. Professor Brown-Nagin will be discussing how, as a groundbreaking civil rights lawyer, Motley constantly confronted the challenges of access in two primary ways: (i) by opening access to justice and legal entitlements on behalf of traditionally marginalized folks, and (ii) in accessing the upper echelons of the justice system in her individual capacity as the first Black woman to serve as a federal judge. Copies of the book and lunch will be distributed on a first come, first served basis.