June 29, 2025
‘Trailblazer: Perseverance in Life and Politics,’ the book details Braun’s list of ‘firsts.’
The first Black woman Senator, Carol Moseley Braun released her memoir on June 24 and it follows her journey as a history maker.
Titled “Trailblazer: Perseverance in Life and Politics,” the book details Braun’s life of “firsts.” The trailblazer made history on a local level in Illinois, the national level in Congress, and eventually on the international level working with the federal government. Braun was more than the first Black woman in the Senate. She was also the first Black person elected to an executive position in Cook County Illinois. Additionally, she was the first U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand.
Published by Hanover Square Press, “Trailblazer: Perseverance in Life and Politics,” gives insight into Braun’s early activist roots. The history maker came from humble beginnings to reach the high levels.
“Born into a family with a history of civil rights activism and military service dating back to the Civil War, Moseley Braun talks about her childhood in racially segregated Chicago to the present, including marching with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., running for president as the lone woman in a field of men, and fostering surprising friendships throughout her storied career, from Joe Biden to Hillary Clinton.”
Braun spoke with NPR about her role in Congress and the challenges that arise when one is a trailblazer.
“I was kind of the duckbill platypus of the Senate in the sense that I was not only a woman, I am black, too. So you put those things together. And what you have is a set of expectations that border on the unreasonable, that border on the trailblazing and the groundbreaking, if you will. And so I did my very best to live up to those expectations. But it was not always possible,” she said.
As the nation continues to engage in erasure and misrepresentation of Black American contributions, Braun’s memoir is timely. It is necessary.
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