Carol Moseley Braun Fast Facts

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, 1977

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, she was the first woman to ever serve on the Senate Finance Committee.

Timeline: 1973-1977 - Serves as 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.