Roland Burris

Roland Burris

Roland Wallace Burris (born August 3, 1937 in Centralia , Illinois ) is an American lawyer and politician ( Democratic Party ). He was the US Senator for the state of Illinois from January 2009 to November 2010 . Like his predecessor Barack Obama , he was the only African-American member of the Senate at the time.

Life

Burris studied political science at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale until 1959 and then moved to Howard University in Washington, DC , where he earned the degree of Juris Doctor in 1963 . After completing his studies, he first worked in accounting and banking in Illinois, including from 1978 to 1990 as a comptroller ( auditor ) appointed by the State of Illinois . In 1984 he applied unsuccessfully for his party's nomination for the US Senate elections. From 1991 to 1995 he was the successor to Neil Hartigan Attorney General of Illinois. In 1994, 1998 and 2002 he sought nomination as a democratic candidate for governorship, without success.

On December 31, 2008, Burris was named by Rod Blagojevich , the governor of Illinois, to succeed Barack Obama, who had been elected president of the United States . He took up his post in January 2009, although his appointment was controversial due to Blagojevich, who was later removed from office for corruption and then sentenced to prison. In the 2010 Senate election , Burris did not run again, and Republican Mark Kirk was elected to succeed him. On November 29, 2010, Burris resigned from Congress .

Web links

Commons : Roland Burris  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Roland Burris in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Roland Burris in the nndb (English)