New Orleans may well have been the most liberal Deep South city in 1954 because of its large Creole population, the influence of the French, and its cosmopolitan atmosphere.
From Constance Baker Motley
I never thought I would live long enough to see the legal profession change to the extent it has.
When I was 15, I decided I wanted to be a lawyer. No one thought this was a good idea.
Columbia Law School men were being drafted, and suddenly women who had done well in college were considered acceptable candidates for the vacant seats.
Whites would rather not be involved in race matters, I think.
When Thurgood Marshall became a lawyer, race relations in the United States were particularly bad.
We knew then what we know now; only exemplary blacks are acceptable.
We Americans entered a new phase in our history - the era of integration - in 1954.
We African Americans have now spent the major part of the 20th Century battling racism.
Too many whites still see blacks as a group apart.
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