Carol Moseley Braun, ’72, Talks About Her New Role as Chairman of the United States African Development Foundation
Carol Moseley Braun's latest mission: Shining a spotlight on Africa
Every day global media overwhelms Americans with the latest news of war in both Gaza and Ukraine. But drought, famine and internal conflict around Africa have combined to create more casualties recently than the fighting going on in the Middle East and Russian border areas. It just seems nobody is paying attention.
The former Illinois senator and onetime U.S. ambassador Carol Moseley Braun is now paying rapt attention. Late last month, Moseley Braun was quietly sworn in as the new chairman of the United States African Development Foundation, an aid organization now marking its 40th anniversary in Washington, D.C. The new post wasn’t a surprise: Moseley Braun is African American herself, she was nominated by her old Senate ally Joe Biden and her election to the post was promoted by another old Senate colleague, Dick Durbin. She already knows her way around diplomatic channels, having served as ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa after her single U.S. Senate term ended in 1999.
In brief flashes here and there — a 2004 campaign for the presidency, a 2011 run for mayor of Chicago — Moseley Braun has reasserted her name into political headlines. But mostly she has been living quietly in her old Hyde Park neighborhood, within easy walking distance of the Obama family home. She’s been a visiting professor at Northwestern University, headed her own food company, been a vocal booster for various political campaigns (including Biden’s run four years ago) and served on the boards of the DuSable Black History Museum and the World War I National Museum of American History in Washington.
In her new assignment, at the age of 76, Moseley Braun plans to keep her residence in Chicago while commuting to both Washington, where the USADF is headquartered, and various African capitals to meet with both government and business leaders. One of her first official appearances in her new role will come at a May 23 state dinner to honor the president of Kenya, William Ruto, and his wife, Rachel.
Read more at Crain's Chicago Business