Cora Mae Brown

Cora Mae Brown

Michigan politician

Michigan's first female African-American state senator

Amy French

Image source: www.blackpast.org

1914

Bessemer, Alabama, USA

1972

Social worker, police officer, attorney, and politician

Brown was born in Bessemer, Alabama and her family moved to Detroit when she was eight years old. She later returned south to obtain a degree in Sociology from Fisk University. Upon returning to Michigan, she became a social worker and then a police officer. She graduated from Wayne State University with a law degree in 1948. She unsuccessfully ran for public office in 1950 and 1951, but in 1952 was successful and became Michigan's first female African-American state senator. She served two terms (1953-1956). While in office, she fought against racism and sexism. She continued to address women's issues as general counsel for the U.S. Post Office when she dealt with the problem of using the mail to distribute pornography. She worked as an attorney for the federal government for the rest of her career.

Cora M. Brown Papers, Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.

Victoria W. Wolcott, Remaking Respectability: African-American Women in Interwar Detroit (University of North Carolina Press, 2001).