Edward Brooke was born in Washington on 26th October, 1919. Educated at Howard University and Boston University, he served in the United States Army during the Second World War.

Brooke worked as a lawyer in Boston before becoming Massachusetts attorney general (1963-66). A member of the Republican Party, Brooke was elected to the Senate in 1966. He therefore became the first African American to serve in the Senate since Reconstruction.

In the Senate he campaigned for for low-income public housing projects. Brooke served in the Senate for twelve years before being defeated in 1978.