View source for Carol Moseley-Braun

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'''Carol Moseley-Braun''' is the first black woman to be elected to the [[U.S. Senate]].

Mosley-Braun was born in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], August 16, 1947, was educated in Chicago public school and graduated from the [[University of Illinois]] in 1969. She went on to go to the [[University of Chicago]] School of Law, and graduated in 1972. In 1992, Carol Moseley-Braun was elected to the U.S Senate to represent Illinois, and she served on the Senate from 1993 to 1999.

From 1973 to 1986 she was married to Michael Braun and they have one son.

Moseley Braun was the subject of a 1993 [[Federal Election Commission]] investigation over $249,000 in unaccounted-for campaign funds.  The agency found some small violations, but took no action against Moseley Braun, citing a lack of resources.  Moseley Braun only admitted to bookkeeping errors. The [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] turned down two requests for investigations from the [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]].<ref name="Braun_Koerner_Slate">''[[Slate]]'', [http://www.slate.com/id/2078924/ Is Carol Moseley-Braun &#91;''sic''&#93; a Crook?"], February 19, 2003.</ref>

In 1996, Moseley Braun made a private trip to [[Nigeria]], where she met with dictator Sani Abacha. Despite U.S. sanctions against that country due to Abacha's actions, the Senator neither notified nor registered her trip with the [[State Department]].  She subsequently defended Abacha's human rights records in Congress.<ref name="Braun_Ruden_NPR">''[[NPR]]'', [https://www.npr.org/programs/specials/democrats2004/braun.html "2004 Democratic Presidential Candidates: Carol Moseley Braun"], May 6, 2003</ref> Her former fiancé Kgosie Matthews, who also served on her campaign staff (in violation of U.S. immigration regulations<ref>Siskind Susser Bland. "[http://www.visalaw.com/98may/38may98.html US SENATOR’S CAMPAIGN MANAGER FOUND TO BE WORKING ILLEGALLY] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206014926/http://www.visalaw.com/98may/38may98.html |date=December 6, 2010 }}." May 1998. Accessed February 16, 2010.</ref>), had been a [[lobbyist]] for the Nigerian government; Matthews would later leave the country. She had paid Matthews, a native of South Africa, a salary of $15,000 a month during the campaign.<ref>Johnson, Dirk, [https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10616F63F5E0C728FDDAB0994DA494D81 "Illinois's new Senator under fire on issue of boyfriend's conduct"], ''Chicago Tribune'', December 31, 1992. Retrieved January 1, 2011.</ref>

In 1998, after [[George Will]] wrote a column reviewing the allegations of corruption against her,<ref>Will, George F. "[http://students.uis.edu/araut01s/cr/will.html Story of Chicagoan Carol Moseley-Braun] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206011035/http://students.uis.edu/araut01s/cr/will.html |date=December 6, 2010 }}." September 6, 1998.</ref> Moseley Braun played the [[race card]], "I think because he couldn't say n*gg*r, he said corrupt,"<ref name="Braun_Will_CNN">''[[Associated Press]]'', [http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/09/08/braun.ap/ "Moseley-Braun Lashes Out At Columnist, Apologizes"] (defunct link. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070613075007/http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/09/08/braun.ap/ Archived copy] as of June 13, 2007.), ''[[CNN]]'', September 9, 1998.</ref> She also compared Will to a [[Ku Klux Klan]]sman, saying: "I mean this very sincerely from the bottom of my heart: He can take his hood and put it back on again, as far as I'm concerned."<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/11/03/election/senate/illinois/ "Moseley-Braun loses to Republican Fitzgerald"], ''[[CNN]]'', November 3, 1998.</ref>  Later, Moseley Braun apologized for her remarks.<ref name="Braun_Will_CNN"/>

==References==
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[[Category:Former United States Senators]]
[[Category:Illinois]]
[[Category:Black History]]
[[Category:Democratic Party]]