Cora Brown, Detroit policewoman, attorney and civil rights activist, is distinguished as the first Black woman elected to any state senate in the U.S. Born in Bessemer, Alabama on April 16, 1914, Cora Brown moved to Detroit with her parents in 1922. She was educated in the Detroit public Schools, and graduated from Fisk University and Wayne State UniVersity law school. Elected on the Democratic ticket, she served in the Michigan State Senate from 1953-1957. A controversial political figure, she shifted her political affiliation to the Republican party and was appointed Assistant General Counsel in the U.S. Post Office Department, where she served until the close of the Eisenhower administration. From Washington, she moved to California, practicing law there until she resumed her legal career in Detroit, in 1970.
From the description of Cora Brown papers, 1935-1972 (Detroit Public Library). WorldCat record id: 642680235
