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Carol Moseley Braun Fast Facts

(CNN) — Here is a look at the life of former US Senator Carol Moseley Braun.

Personal

Birth date: August 16, 1947

Birth place: Chicago, Illinois

Birth name: Carol Elizabeth Moseley

Father: Joseph Moseley, policeman

Mother: Edna (Davie) Moseley, medical assistant

Marriage: Michael Braun (1973-1986, divorced)

Children: Matthew

Education: University of Illinois, B.A., 1969; University of Chicago, J.D., 1972

Other Facts

First African American woman elected to the US Senate.

As a US senator, Moseley Braun was the first woman to serve on the Senate Finance Committee.

Timeline

1973-1977 – Serves as an assistant US attorney.

1978-1988 – Member of the Illinois House of Representatives. Becomes the first African American woman to serve as assistant majority leader.

1988-1992 – Recorder of deeds for Cook County, Illinois. Is the first woman and first African American to hold an executive office in Cook County.

1993-1999 – US senator from Illinois.

1998 – Defeated in the 1998 Senate election.

1999-2001 – American ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa.

February 18, 2003 – Officially announces that she will be running for the Democratic nomination for president.

January 15, 2004 – Drops out of the race for president and endorses Howard Dean.

2005 – Founds an organic products company, Good Food Organics, which is the parent company of Ambassador Organics.

April 27, 2007 – Suffers a broken wrist after being attacked by a mugger outside her Chicago home.

November 20, 2010 – Officially announces her candidacy for mayor of Chicago.

February 22, 2011 – Loses to Rahm Emanuel in Chicago’s mayoral race.

September 2016 – Becomes a visiting professor of political science at Northwestern University.

January 2024 – President Biden nominates Moseley Braun to serve as Chairman of the US African Development Foundation’s Board of Directors. On March 8, she is confirmed by the Senate.

June 24, 2025 – Moseley Braun’s memoir “Trailblazer: Perseverance in Life and Politics” is published.

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