Her legal career took flight when she began working as a law clerk with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. She had the opportunity to work with Thurgood Marshall and many others

She became a key legal strategist in the civil rights movement, aiding in the desegregation of Southern schools, buses and lunch counters. She also successfully argued nine cases before the US supreme court.

In 1964, she became the first black woman to be elected to the New York Senate. The following year, she again made history when she was chosen as Manhattan Borough President, being the first woman and African-American to hold that position.

In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson appointed her Federal Court Judge, once again being the first African-American woman to be named to that position.

Today, Constance still holds that position, where she continues to make a difference.