Cora Brown

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Cora Brown
Member of the Michigan Senate
from the 2nd district
In office
January 14, 1953 – December 31, 1954
Preceded byBristoe Bryant
Succeeded byStanley F. Rozycki
Member of the Michigan Senate
from the 3rd district
In office
January 12, 1955 – December 31, 1956
Preceded byCharles Diggs
Succeeded byBasil W. Brown
Personal details
Born
Cora Mae Brown

(1914-04-19)April 19, 1914
Bessemer, Alabama, U.S.
DiedDecember 17, 1972(1972-12-17) (aged 58)
Political partyDemocratic
Alma materCass Technical High School
Fisk University

Cora Mae Brown (April 19, 1914 – December 17, 1972) was the first

African-American woman elected (rather than appointed)[1] to a state senate in the United States. She won her seat in the Michigan Senate in 1952.[2]
Brown was a Democrat who represented Detroit.

Early life

Cora Mae Brown was Richard and Alice Brown's only child.[1] She was born in Bessemer, Alabama on April 19, 1914.[1] When better economic conditions did not appear for their family when they moved to Birmingham, her grandparents urged her parents to move north to Michigan.[3] At 8, she moved to Detroit, Michigan, with her family.[4] There, her father established a tailor shop that was supported by Detroit automotive workers.[3] They occupied a neighborhood that was racially diverse.[3]

Education

Brown enrolled at the Bishop School when her parents moved the family to Detroit in 1922[3] and she had her first experiences with racial discrimination at the school. A German classmate called her "schwarze" or "black woman," using negative connotations.[3]

In 1931, she graduated from

historically black college in Nashville, Tennessee.[1] She originally intended to study medicine, but found it too difficult to look at the medical cadavers.[3] She quickly changed her concentration to sociological work. During her time at Fisk, she studied sociology with renowned sociologist E. Franklin Frazier and received an A.B. degree.[2] To manage college expenses Brown worked at a Detroit Urban League summer camp for underprivileged children.[1] Brown was known for being particularly active in campus political movements as a student (1931-1935). This commitment was inspired by her strong reaction to the lynching of a young black man accused of rape in Columbia, Tennessee.[1]
Her actions on campus indicate her lifelong commitment to social justice.

Following graduation, Brown returned to Detroit where she worked from 1941 to 1946 as a policewoman in the Detroit Police Department's Women's Division.[1] Many of her cases involved criminal law. This inspired her to attend Wayne State University's law school, she would pass the bar examination two weeks after her graduation in 1948.[5] Though she did not focus on criminal law during her time in school, Brown remained interested in this pursuit.

Legal career

Upon graduation from Fisk University in 1935, Brown took advantage of the need for social workers created by the 1929 economic crash.[3] For another five years, she assisted the homeless of Detroit deal with the effects of the Great Depression.[3]

At 37, Brown worked as a fines lawyer in Detroit.[3] She made a comfortable living and resided with her mother.

Following her work as the special associate general counsel of the

US Post Office, she moved to Los Angeles. She opened a small practice there and practiced law until her return to Detroit in 1970.[5]

Brown was involved in several civil rights and community building organizations. Brown worked with the NAACP, YWCA, the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, and the New Calvary Baptist Church.[5]

Political career and involvement

Brown's political involvement began during her time at Fisk University.[1] As a student she participated in demonstrations and was praised by writer Edward T. Clayton for her "willingness to battle injustice."[1]

In 1950 and 1951, she ran for a seat on the Michigan State Senate but was defeated. This seat had been up for special election after senator Wilkowski had been accused of election fraud.[3] Her experience in these two campaigns allowed her to make more competitive decisions in her 1952 race. She went door to door and sent trucks around Detroit to spread her message to voters, this campaign was based on her desire to improve hospital, social services, and to decrease racial inequality.[3]

Brown's campaign victory in 1952 allowed her to serve two terms (1953-1956).

civil rights and introduced several bills that aided their expansion in Michigan. One such bill increased punishments given to restaurants and hotels that were racially discriminatory from $25 to $100.[7] Another, introduced in 1956, ordered the removal of licenses of business that discriminated on the basis of race.[5] Brown is also noted to be a women's rights activist, as she worked to curb the distribution of pornography through the mail.[7] Newspapers hailed her as the "champion of the underprivileged."[5]

At times, Brown clashed with her colleagues in the

United Auto Workers Union and the Democratic Party.[3]

She supported

US Post Office, where she would work until the Democrats returned to power in 1960.[4] Tracy was the first black woman to hold this post.[5] Later, Brown served as executive director of the President's Committee on Government Contracts, a committee formed to regulate fair employment practices by government contractors.[8] Following ten years in private practice, she returned to Detroit (1970) and joined the Michigan Employment Security Commission as a referee.[8]

In popular culture

A portrait of Brown, painted by Detroit artist Telitha Cumi Bowens, was included in the 1988/89 exhibit Ain't I A Woman at the Museum of African American History, Detroit. The exhibit featured a dozen prominent Black women from the state of Michigan, including Ethelene Crockett, Violet T. Lewis and Lucy Thurman.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 9780810391772
    .
  2. ^ a b "Cora Mae Brown: Michigan Women's Hall of Fame -". Archived from the original on 2012-03-09. Retrieved 2013-04-15.
  3. ^
    ISBN 9780878425259
    .
  4. ^ a b c d "Brown, Cora Mae (1914-1972) - The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed". www.blackpast.org. 19 January 2007. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  5. ^
    ISBN 9780810391772
    .
  6. ^ "Cora M. Brown, motor city politician". Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  7. ^ a b "Michigan Women's Hall of Fame: Cora Mae Brown" (PDF). Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  8. ^ a b c "Historic Elmwood Cemetery and Foundation". Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  9. ^ Ain't I A Woman, an exhibition catalogue. Detroit, MI: Museum of African American History. 1989. pp. 12–13.
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