The University of Chicago and the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs continues the celebration of Black Heritage. This week we are featuring Carol Moseley Braun.
In 1992 Carol Moseley Braun became the 1st African America woman elected to the U.S. Senate. She was also the 1st woman to defeat an incumbent senator in an election. Moseley Braun represented Illinois in the U.S. Senate from 1993 to 1999.
During her term, Moseley Braun won clashes with southern senators over a patent for a Confederate insignia. She was noted for her support of individual retirement accounts for homemakers and for filibustering to restore budget monies for youth job training and senior citizens.
Carol Moseley Braun attained her undergraduate degree at the University of Illinois and received a law degree from the University of Chicago in 1972.
She worked as an assistant U.S. attorney for 10 years before her election to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1978. During Moseley Braun’s work as an assistant U.S. attorney she was an activist for health-care, education reform and gun control. She was named the assistant leader for the Democratic majority.
Moseley Braun served as U.S. ambassador to New Zealand from 1999 to 2001. During the 2004 U.S. presidential elections she was a candidate for the democratic nomination.
Carol Moseley Braun had one son with Michael Braun, but is now divorced. Like most of us, Moseley Braun resides in Hyde Park, Chicago. Carol Moseley Braun is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.
