Interview with Constance Belton Green
IntervieweeInterview with
Constance Belton Green
American, born 1947
InterviewerInterviewed by
Stacey Close
American
Date2016 October 26
DimensionsDuration: 8 Minutes, 45 Seconds
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineGift of the Connecticut Bar Foundation
DescriptionOral history interview with Constance Belton Green who was interviewed by Stacey Close on October 26, 2016 for the Connecticut Bar Foundation's History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project.
Topics Discussed:
- Early Life: Constance Belton Green was born in Portsmouth, Virginia in 1947, into a segregated environment. Her parents were educators.
- Education in a Segregated Environment: She went through a segregated school system and attended Hampton Institute. In 1954, the year of Brown v. Board of Education, Virginia took ten years to desegregate.
- College: She was an exchange student at Cornell and studied in Europe.
- Role Models and Hampton University Experience: At Hampton, she was influenced by President Brud Holland. Her major role model was Constance Baker Motley, the NAACP Civil Rights Lawyer, known for her work on Brown v. Board of Education and as the first African American woman appointed as a federal judge. Green initially majored in Early Childhood Education but decided to pursue law in her senior year to work in policy.
- University of Connecticut Law School: Constance Belton Green decided to attend the University of Connecticut Law School in 1969 after being offered a full scholarship. She was one of very few students of color and the only woman of color in her class. She met her future husband, Alan Green, in law school.
- Balancing Career, Family, and Community: Constance discusses the balance between career, marriage, family, and social expectations, particularly for African American women in the 1960s. She prioritized family and community first, then career. She became a member of the Connecticut Bar in 1975.
- Early Legal Career: She passed the bar exam in the early 1970s. She practiced family law in New Haven with the firm Sosnoff, Cooper and Whitney, a public interest law firm.
- Significant Cases: One notable class-action lawsuit she worked on addressed discrimination against pregnant women, who could be fired and denied unemployment compensation. She was also a founder of Connecticut Women's Legal and Education Fund.
- George Crawford Black Bar Association: While in law school, she and other students helped initiate an affinity group for African American law students. This was a precursor to what became the George Crawford Black Bar Association, named after a prestigious Black lawyer. Constance Belton Green was honored with a Trailblazer Award by the organization in 2012, which supports African American lawyers through programs and networking.
- Transition to Equity and Community Work: After her law practice, Constance gravitated towards equity and community work, including education. She worked at Eastern Connecticut State University focusing on direct equity, mentoring students, and confronting discrimination. She also served on boards like the Bloomfield Board of Education and chaired a charter school in Hartford.
- Pursuit of a Doctorate: Constance pursued and earned a doctorate from Teachers' College at Columbia University in 2003.
- Mentoring and the Importance of Education for African American: She primarily mentors African American women but acknowledges the need to mentor African American men.
- Support Systems and Navigating Discrimination: She highlights the critical role of support systems, including family and affinity groups like the Black Law Students' Association at UCONN.
Topics Discussed:
- Early Life: Constance Belton Green was born in Portsmouth, Virginia in 1947, into a segregated environment. Her parents were educators.
- Education in a Segregated Environment: She went through a segregated school system and attended Hampton Institute. In 1954, the year of Brown v. Board of Education, Virginia took ten years to desegregate.
- College: She was an exchange student at Cornell and studied in Europe.
- Role Models and Hampton University Experience: At Hampton, she was influenced by President Brud Holland. Her major role model was Constance Baker Motley, the NAACP Civil Rights Lawyer, known for her work on Brown v. Board of Education and as the first African American woman appointed as a federal judge. Green initially majored in Early Childhood Education but decided to pursue law in her senior year to work in policy.
- University of Connecticut Law School: Constance Belton Green decided to attend the University of Connecticut Law School in 1969 after being offered a full scholarship. She was one of very few students of color and the only woman of color in her class. She met her future husband, Alan Green, in law school.
- Balancing Career, Family, and Community: Constance discusses the balance between career, marriage, family, and social expectations, particularly for African American women in the 1960s. She prioritized family and community first, then career. She became a member of the Connecticut Bar in 1975.
- Early Legal Career: She passed the bar exam in the early 1970s. She practiced family law in New Haven with the firm Sosnoff, Cooper and Whitney, a public interest law firm.
- Significant Cases: One notable class-action lawsuit she worked on addressed discrimination against pregnant women, who could be fired and denied unemployment compensation. She was also a founder of Connecticut Women's Legal and Education Fund.
- George Crawford Black Bar Association: While in law school, she and other students helped initiate an affinity group for African American law students. This was a precursor to what became the George Crawford Black Bar Association, named after a prestigious Black lawyer. Constance Belton Green was honored with a Trailblazer Award by the organization in 2012, which supports African American lawyers through programs and networking.
- Transition to Equity and Community Work: After her law practice, Constance gravitated towards equity and community work, including education. She worked at Eastern Connecticut State University focusing on direct equity, mentoring students, and confronting discrimination. She also served on boards like the Bloomfield Board of Education and chaired a charter school in Hartford.
- Pursuit of a Doctorate: Constance pursued and earned a doctorate from Teachers' College at Columbia University in 2003.
- Mentoring and the Importance of Education for African American: She primarily mentors African American women but acknowledges the need to mentor African American men.
- Support Systems and Navigating Discrimination: She highlights the critical role of support systems, including family and affinity groups like the Black Law Students' Association at UCONN.
Object number2024.38.37a-b
NotesProject Overview: At the turn of the 20th century, other than Mary Hall, women lawyers were virtually unknown in Connecticut. By contrast, at the turn of the 21st century, law schools were enrolling roughly the same number of women as men. Since their earliest time at the bar, women have become leaders in all areas of the profession at a pace out of all proportion to their brief history and number. In 1999, the Fellows of the Connecticut Bar Foundation initiated the Oral History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project. Within the framework of this dynamic project, the Fellows have been creating a permanent video, audio, and photographic historical record of milestone achievements of women as they have become more visible and achieved prominence in the field of law. In 2019, a leadership donation of $20,000 from the law firm of Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey enabled the project to significantly broaden its scope and plan for the future.
Through its first two phases, the project worked with award-winning documentarian Karyl Evans and attorney/photographer Isabel Chenoweth to produce fifty-eight oral history interviews with outstanding female attorneys and 118 portraits of women in the Connecticut judiciary.
The oral history interviews have collected the stories of women whose ingenuity, perseverance, and intelligence dismantled barriers that historically prevented women from pursuing careers in the law. Connecticut has benefited from the efforts of these “pioneers” as they enriched the legal profession by joining the ranks of their male peers and paved the way for more women to join the profession. (Source: Connecticut Bar Foundation)
Subject Terms
- Women
- Lawyers
- Women lawyers
- Oral history
- Interview films
- Interview transcripts
- Interviews
- Oral narratives
- Attorneys
- Virginia
- Educators
- Segregation
- Law and order
- Civil rights movement
- African American women
- African Americans
- University of Connecticut
- Law schools
- Awards
- Discrimination
- Family
- Education
- Gender roles
- Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
- Judges
- Black people
- People of color
- Marriage
- Law firms
- Pregnancy
- Motherhood
- Connecticut Women's Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF)
- Mentorship
- Students
- George Crawford Black Bar Association, Inc.
- Professors
- Interviews and Oral Histories
- History of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession Project
On View
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