Carol Moseley Braun, who made history as the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Senate, will release a memoir next year, her publisher announced in a news release.
Hanover Square Press, a division of HarperCollins, will publish Braun’s Trailblazer: Perseverance in Life and Politics in early 2025.
In 1992, Moseley Braun became the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Senate. She was also the first Black woman Democrat to serve as a senator, and the first female senator from Illinois. Barack Obama, who was elected to the Senate from Illinois 16 years later, has credited her with showing him the way.
In Trailblazer, Moseley Braun, now 76, will trace her career in public service, from her rise in Illinois politics to her years in the Senate in the 1990s to her experience as the U.S. ambassador to New Zealand.
According to the publisher, Moseley Braun’s memoir will chart her journey to Congress and to international renown via “poignant, powerful, and sometimes funny stories.” Born into a family with a history of civil rights activism and military service dating back to the Civil War, Moseley Braun will describe her childhood on the south side of Chicago, her experiences marching with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and her unsuccessful 2004 presidential campaign, the lone woman in a field of men. The book includes appearances by a celebrity-studded roster of friends and colleagues, including Gloria Steinem, Maya Angelou, Hillary Clinton, and President Joe Biden. In 2023, Biden nominated her for chair of the board of directors of the United States African Development Foundation, a position she now occupies.
Trailblazer is scheduled for publication on Jan. 21, 2025.
Marion Winik hosts NPR’s The Weekly Reader podcast.
