JFK Greatest Rights President of Century: Constance B. Motley
Press Release
November 30, 1963

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Press Releases, Loose Pages. JFK Greatest Rights President of Century: Constance B. Motley, 1963. 5478f65a-bd92-ee11-be37-6045bddb811f. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/eb5d32f9-4ca5-4779-8988-b5033a92b95e/jfk-greatest-rights-president-of-century-constance-b-motley. Accessed August 19, 2025.
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PRESS RELEASE NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND TO COLUMBUS CIRCLE + NEW YORK19,N.Y. © JUdson 6-8397 DR. ALLAN KNIGHT CHALMERS JACK GREENBERG President CONSTANCE BAKER MOTLEY Director-Counsel Associate Counsel JFK GREATEST RIGHTS PRESIDENT OF. CENTURY:- CONSTANCE B. MOTLEY November 30, 1963 NEW YCRK---The loss of John Fitzgerald Kennedy has "deprived American Negroes of the greatest presidential advocate of equal rights this century has yet heard." So spoke Constance Baker Motley, history making civil rights attorney and associate counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educa- tional Fund. tement was the highpoint of a two day Women ts Conference sponsored by the National Coun- c£l Of Meien of the United States, here % week, The attractive attorney added that the nation's loss, "has not deprived us of the vision which he, (President Kennedy) encouraged, of a truly desegregated society...." The NCW was founded in 1888 by Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and others. Since then it has grown to include 56 Councils througnout the free world. It serves as a clearing house for women organizational activities. Mrs. Motley said that "official resistance" to ending segrega- tion has led to widespread disrespect tor law and order, Moreover, "it has stimulated white citizen resistance in form of economic re- taliation against Negroes," seeking freedom, she continued. In conclusion, Mrs, Motley told NOW members and their President, Sophia Yarnall Jacobs, that the Negro vote is the key to lowering racial injustices, "That is why current voter education and registration campaigns are a must. These efforts need sheer physical manpower, "If every race relations conference would end with the dispatch of a corp of volunteers to a southern community for two or more weeks to help register Negroes, the picture would change," she said, The NOW's first Women of Conscience Civil Rights Conference we: planned and coordinated by Research and Action Associates, a team of social scientists.