Carol Moseley Braun-1st and only African-American woman elected to the United States Senate

Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun is an American politician and lawyer who represented Illinois in the United States Senate from 1993 to 1999. She was the 1st and only African-American woman elected to the United States Senate, the 1st African-American U.S. Senator for the Democratic Party, the 1st woman to defeat an incumbent U.S. Senator in an election, and the 1st and only female Senator from Illinois. From 1999 until 2001, she was the United States Ambassador to New Zealand. She was a candidate for the Democratic nomination during the 2004 U.S. presidential election. Following the public announcement by Richard M. Daley that he would not seek re-election, in November 2010, Braun began her campaign for Mayor of Chicago. Moseley was born in Chicago, Illinois. She attended Ruggles School for elementary school, and she attended Parker High School (now the site of Paul Robeson High School) in Chicago. She majored in political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago, graduating in 1969 and earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1972. Moseley Braun was a prosecutor in the United States Attorney's office in Chicago from 1973 to 1977. Braun was first elected to public office in 1978, as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives. There, she rose to the post of assistant majority leader. As a State Representative, she became recognized as a champion for liberal social causes. She currently runs a private law firm, Carol Moseley Braun LLC in Chicago. Moseley Braun has launched a line of organic food products called Ambassador Organics.