CAROL MOSELEY BRAUN

Carol Moseley Braun served in the United States Senate from 1993 to 1999 as a Democrat from Illinois. Born in Chicago in 1947, Moseley Braun came of age in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement and pursued a career in law. In the 1970s her environmental activism led to a political career. She joined the United States Attorney's Office in Chicago before being elected to the Illinois state legislature in 1978, where she served for 10 years. Following an unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor in 1986, she served four years as Recorder of Deeds for Cook County, Illinois, the first African American elected to a Cook County executive position. In 1992 she defeated both the Democratic incumbent and the Republican challenger for a seat in the U.S. Senate, becoming the first female senator from Illinois and the first African American woman to serve in the Senate.