Edward Brooke

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Edward William Brooke III (October 26, 1919 – January 3, 2015) was an American lawyer and Republican Party politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1967 to 1979. He was the first African American elected to the United States Senate by popular vote. Prior to serving in the Senate, he served as the attorney general of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 1963 until 1967. He was the first African-American since Reconstruction in 1874 to be elected to the United States Senate, and the first African-American since 1881 to hold a United States Senate seat. Brooke was also the first African-American U.S. senator to ever be re-elected. He was the longest-serving African-American U.S. senator at twelve years, until he was surpassed by Tim Scott in 2025. Born to a middle-class black family, Brooke was raised in Washington, D.C. After attending Howard University, he graduated from Boston University School of Law in 1948 after serving in the U.S. Army during World...

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