WASHINGTON – He was a civil rights pioneer on Capitol Hill. Today in Washington, colleagues are paying tribute to the life…
Front row, from left are, Secretary of State John Kerry, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick attend the funeral services for former Massachusetts Sen. Edward William Brooke III, Tuesday, March 10, 2015, at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington. Brooke, the first African-American to be popularly elected to the U.S. Senate, died on Jan. 3, 2015 at his home in Coral Gables, Fla. He was 95. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass. and former Virginia Sen. John Warner are in the second row,
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
Secretary of State John Kerry pays tribute to the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward William Brooke III, Tuesday, March 10, 2015, during funeral services at the Washington National Cathedral, in Washington. Brooke, the first African-American to be popularly elected to the U.S. Senate. Brooke died on Jan. 3, 2015 at his home in Coral Gables, Fla. He was 95.
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
The coffin containing the remains of the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward William Brooke III, rests inside the Washington National Cathedral, in Washington, Tuesday, March 10, 2015, during a funeral services. Brooke, the first African-American to be popularly elected to the United States Senate. Brooke died on Jan. 3, 2015 at his home in Coral Gables, Fla. He was 95. Front row, from left are, Secretary of State John Kerry, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
This Sept. 14, 1966, file photo shows Edward W. Brooke joining campaign workers in celebration, in Boston, after winning the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. Brooke, the first black to win popular election to the Senate, has died. He was 95. Ralph Neas, a former aide, said Brooke died Saturday, Jan. 3, 2015, of natural causes at his Coral Gables, Fla, home.
(AP Photo/Frank C. Curtin, File)
AP Photo/Frank C. Curtin, File
In this June 7, 1978 file photo, Sen. Edward W. Brooke, R-Mass., is shown in Cambridge, Mass. Brooke, the first black to win popular election to the Senate, has died. He was 95. Ralph Neas, a former aide, said Brooke died Saturday, Jan. 3, 2015, of natural causes at his Coral Gables, Fla, home.
(AP Photo/file)
AP Photo/file
This Oct. 28, 2009, file photo shows President Barack Obama greeting former Massachusetts Sen. Edward Brooke in the Rotunda on Capitol Hill in Washington, during a ceremony where Brooke received the Congressional Gold Medal. Brooke, the first black to win popular election to the Senate, has died. He was 95. Ralph Neas, a former aide, said Brooke died Saturday, Jan. 3, 2015, of natural causes at his Coral Gables, Fla, home.
(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File
This Oct. 28, 2009, file photo shows former Massachusetts Sen. Edward William Brooke speaking in the Rotunda on Capitol Hill in Washington, during a ceremony where he received the Congressional Gold Medal. Brooke, the first black to win popular election to the Senate, has died. He was 95. Ralph Neas, a former aide, said Brooke died Saturday, Jan. 3, 2015, of natural causes at his Coral Gables, Fla, home.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File
Former Massachusetts Sen. Edward William Brooke speaks in the Rotunda on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009, during a ceremony where he received the Congressional Gold Medal.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
WASHINGTON – He was a civil rights pioneer on Capitol Hill. Today in Washington, colleagues are paying tribute to the life of Edward Brooke, America’s first black senator.
His casket draped in a white and gold cloth, colleagues touched by Sen. Edward Brooke’s life and legacy paid their respects.
“Ed Brooke was steered by his own compass my friends. He had a sense of direction clearly defined in chaos of war,” said Secretary of State John Kerry during the service.
The World War two veteran, and congressional gold medal recipient hailed from D.C. as a Dunbar high school and Howard University graduate. But after attending law school in Boston and starting his political career there, Brooke found himself representing Massachusetts as the country’s first black senator in 1966.
“Don’t ask me how a black man without guide posts became one of the most popular politicians ever in Massachusetts; a state where only 2 percent of the population was black,” said Del. Eleanor Holmes-Norton of Brooke’s remarkable success in politics in a racially charged period in American history.
“I cannot explain the conundrum that was Edward Brooke, but I experienced the warmth and talent that made him successful as a public man and dear as a friend,” she said.
Brooke was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President Barack Obama. Holmes-Norton recalled Brooke accepting the award without a note in hand and regaling the crowd with stories.
Kerry, who was a junior senator when he worked with Brooke, spoke about his passion for the job.
“He was always true to himself. He fought ceaselessly for the poor, for minorities and for women. He was the embodiment of a style of legislating that valued substance over rhetoric. He knew the government wasn’t the enemy; the government was us,” he said.
