Carol Moseley Braun Fast Facts
CNN Editorial Research
(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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