Cora Brown

Cora Mea Brown (born April 19, 1914 – December 17, 1972), was the first African-American woman elected to a United States state senate, winning a seat in the Michigan State Senate in 1952.

Biography

Early life

Cora was Richard and Alice Brown's only child born in Bessemer, Alabama. At the age of eight she and her family moved to Detroit, Michigan. There her father established a tailor shop.

Education

In 1931, Brown graduated from Cass Technical High School and entered Fisk University, a historically African-American college in Tennessee. There she studied sociology. She returned to Detroit to attend Wayne State University's law school while working with the Detroit Police Department. She graduated from Wayne State in 1948. That same year Brown passed the bar exam.

Politics

In 1950 Brown ran for a seat on the Michigan State Senate but was defeated. On November 4, 1952, she ran again and won, and served for two terms (1953–1956). A Michigan state senate term is approximately two years. She served as the state senator for the 2nd district during her first term and served for the 3rd district during her second term. Brown fought strongly for civil rights, but clashed with some of her fellow Democrats because she believed they were too heavily influenced by a federation of industrial unions, the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations). This prompted Brown to switch to the Republican Party. She supported Dwight D. Eisenhower when he ran in the 1956 election for president. In 1956 she was a candidate in the Democratic Primary for U.S. representative from Michigan's 1st District. The year afterwards she was appointed postmaster.

See also

• List of African-American firsts
• List of people from Detroit

References

Cora M. Brown motor city politician

Persondata
Name	Brown, Cora
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Date of birth	April 19, 1914
Place of birth
Date of death	December 17, 1972
Place of death