Bronze Medal Collectable Honors First African American Senator Edward William Brooke III

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Edward William Brooke III coin
Edward William Brooke III coin

The U.S. Mint is offers a collectable medal that is a bronze duplicate of the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to Republican Senator Edward William Brooke III ((born October 26, 1919) in recognition of his unprecedented and enduring service to our Nation. Brooke was the first African-American elected by popular vote to the United States Senate and served with distinction for two terms from January 3, 1967, to January 3, 1979.

Brooke defeated former Massachusetts Governor Endicott Peabody with 1,213,473 votes to 744,761. The black vote had "no measurable bearing" on the election as less than 3% of the state's population was black, and Peabody also supported civil rights for blacks.

Brooke remained the only person of African heritage sent to the Senate in the 20th century until Democrat Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois in 1993. Also, Brooke was the last Republican Senator elected from Massachusetts until Scott Brown was elected in 2010, and is the most recent Republican of African-American heritage to be elected to the Senate in his own right and the only one to win re-election. His many accomplishments include:

*Serving as chairman of the Boston Finance Commission, where he established an outstanding record of confronting and eliminating graft and corruption and proposed groundbreaking legislation for consumer protection and against housing discrimination and air pollution;

*Serving as attorney general of Massachusetts - the first African-American in the Nation to serve as a state attorney general;

*Serving in the Army in the segregated 366th Infantry Regiment during World War II, attaining the rank of captain and earning a Bronze Star Medal for "heroic or meritorious achievement or service" and the Distinguished Service Award;

*Being appointed to the President's Commission on Civil Disorders, where his work on discrimination in housing would serve as the basis for the 1968 Civil Rights Act; and

*Receiving many high honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit from the Government of Italy, a state courthouse in Massachusetts being named in his honor, the NAACP Spingarn Medal, and the Charles Evans Hughes Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

Brooke's medal was designed and sculpted by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Don Everhart, and the obverse features an image of Brooke with the inscription EDWARD WILLIAM BROOKE on the right side.

The reverse depicts the United Sates Capitol Building at the top of the medal and the Massachusetts State House at the bottom between two olive branches. The center of the design showcases the inscription AMERICA'S GREATNESS LIES IN ITS WONDROUS DIVERSITY, OUR MAGNIFICENT PLURALISM HAS MADE THIS COUNTRY GREAT, OUR EVER-WIDENING DIVERSITY WILL KEEP US GREAT. Additional inscriptions are ACT OF CONGRESS 2008, and MASSACHUSETTS STATE HOUSE. It was designed and sculpted by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Phebe Hemphill.

This medal, which can be purchased on the U.S. Mint website, is a bronze replica of the Congressional Gold Medal presented to Senator Brooke at a ceremony at the United States Capitol Building on October 28, 2009.

For additional information, visit usmint.gov

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