Americans mourned the recent death of former Massachusetts Senator Edward Brooke, the first African American popularly elected to the U.S. Senate. He was 95 years old and died at his home in Coral Gables, Florida.
Brooke (R-Mass.) was very influential in the passing of anti-poverty laws. Obtaining fair housing for everyone was his passion. With Senator Walter Mondale (D-Minn.), he sponsored the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion or ethnicity.
The Washington Post tells MHProNews that Brooke hoped to influence civil rights through housing policy. “It’s not purely a Negro problem. It’s a social and economic problem — an American problem,” he told Time in 1967. An amendment he introduced to the 1969 Housing Act capped public-housing rent at 25 percent of income. In 1981, the cap was raised to 30 percent.
Senator Brooke later introduced the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which allowed women to obtain credit independently of their husbands. He was well respected on the Hill, because he was someone who could cross the aisle and work with people with a variety of perspectives.
Brooke was one of only two African Americans to serve in the Senate in the 20th century. He was the first to serve since Reconstruction, when state legislatures appointed senators. Six African Americans have served in the Senate since he left office in 1979.
After distinguished combat service in the segregated U.S. Army during World War II, Brooke forged a legal and political career in Massachusetts, becoming the state’s hard-charging attorney general before winning election to the Senate.
He was one of the most popular politicians in Massachusetts, known for his independence, both from civil rights leaders and from conservative members of his party. In the Senate, Brooke served on the powerful Appropriations Committee and became the ranking Republican on the Banking Committee, which gave him influence over U.S. commerce, monetary and housing policy.
He was a black, Protestant Republican representing a state that was more than 95 percent white, overwhelmingly Catholic and two-thirds Democratic. “I do not intend to be a national leader of the Negro people,” he told Time magazine after his Senate election. “I intend to do my job as a senator from Massachusetts.” ##
(Photo Credit: Washington Post)
