About This Stamp
The 47th stamp in the Black Heritage series honors civil rights pioneer Constance Baker Motley (1921–2005), the first African American woman known to have argued a case before the United States Supreme Court and the first to serve as a federal judge. A brilliant legal strategist, Motley played a key role in knocking down legal segregation and served as a role model and mentor for those who followed in her footsteps.
The stamp features a portrait of Motley by Charly Palmer based on a photograph from the Associated Press. Rendered in acrylic on canvas, it displays elements of Palmer’s signature style: The stenciled circular shapes around the head suggest royalty, and the heavy brushstrokes and scratches provide added textures. Stenciled curlicues embellish the lower background and continue onto Motley’s black dress. Her colorful corsage and a brooch further brighten the portrait.
During her 20 years with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense and Education Fund, from 1945 to 1965, Motley worked on about 60 cases that reached the Supreme Court. She won nine of the 10 cases she argued before the Court.
Motley and her colleagues often faced danger and disrespect as they challenged the entrenched racist system of the South. In addition, at a time when few women pursued law degrees, she endured sexism.
In early 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated her to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the largest and busiest federal trial court in the country. She was sworn in on September 9, 1966, as the fifth woman and the first African American woman on the federal bench. She rose to chief judge in 1982 and senior judge in 1986. President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Citizens Medal in 2001.
Art director Derry Noyes designed the stamp, available in a pane of 20. The Constance Baker Motley stamp is being issued as a Forever® stamp. This Forever stamp will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Derry Noyes
For more than 40 years Derry Noyes has designed and provided art direction for close to 800 United States postage stamps and stamp products. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from Hampshire College and a master of fine arts degree from Yale University.
Noyes worked as a graphics designer at Beveridge and Associates, a Washington, D.C., firm, until 1979 when she established her own design firm, Derry Noyes Graphics. Her clients have included museums, corporations, foundations, and architectural and educational institutions. Her work has been honored by American Illustration, the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, Communication Arts, Critique magazine, Graphis, Creativity International, and the Society of Illustrators.
Before becoming an art director for the U.S. Postal Service, she served as a member of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 1981 to 1983.
Noyes is a resident of Washington, D.C.
Stamp Artist
Charly Palmer
Artist, illustrator, and designer Charly Palmer uses depth, patterns, symbols, and textures to document the intricacies of Blackness. With every painting, he bears witness to African ancestry and contemporary experiences, creating rhythmic, visual stories with the power to shift what viewers believe. As he likes to say, “Art should change the temperature in a room.”
Based on Palmer’s experience in painting on the subject of race, TIME magazine commissioned him to create the cover art and illustrations for its July 2020 “America Must Change” issue. That same summer, singer-songwriter John Legend selected Palmer to paint the cover portrait for his Grammy Award–winning Bigger Love album. Other commissions have come from the Green Bay Packers, the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, Fisk University, and Howard University.
His book projects include illustrations for Kathryn Erskine’s chronicle of the life of Miriam Makeba, Mama Africa (2017), for which he received the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award. Palmer’s own book, The Legend of Gravity: A Tall Basketball Tale, was published in 2022.
Working with the Los Angeles Lakers, Palmer and his wife, Dr. Karida Brown, established the competitive annual art program In the Paint, recognizing L.A.-based artists of color. He created the cover for the National Basketball Association’s 75th anniversary edition 2K22 video game. Most recently, his work has expanded to the metaverse with original non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for several TIME magazine TIMEPieces collections and a Kayvon Thibodeaux NFT Football Collectible.
Palmer lives with his wife and two pugs in Atlanta, where he continues to explore the creative process and mentor artists of color.
The Constance Baker Motley stamp is his first project for the U.S. Postal Service.