RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This country's first popularly elected African-American senator has died. Edward Brooke was 95.
Brooke led an impressive life. After graduating from college, he became a soldier in World War II. And like most black service members, he faced open discrimination. He described his time on a segregated base in Massachusetts as, quote, "filled with frustration and bitterness." Still, he went on to earn a Bronze Star and a Distinguished Service Award.
After the war, Brooke earned two law degrees and got involved in Massachusetts state government as a liberal Republican. In 1966, while many blacks were still struggling for the right to vote, Ed Brooke was elected to the U.S. Senate.
He described himself as a moderate when it came to civil rights and famously said he was not a civil rights leader. History will likely see it differently. President Obama said Edward Brooke, quote, "stood at the forefront of the battle for civil rights."