Carol Moseley-Braun (1947 - ) was the first black woman elected to the U.S. Senate, the first woman from Illinois elected to the Senate, and the sole African American in the Senate from 1992 to 1998. Moseley-Braun was the first, and only, woman to serve as a permanent member of the powerful Senate Finance Committee. As only the second African American to serve in the Senate this century, Moseley-Braun was the object of constituency demands on a national scale. She fought hard on issues of minority rights and education, amassing a solid legislative record. Moseley-Braun is the first former U.S. Senator to hold the post of American Ambassador to New Zealand.