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Roland Wallace Burris (born August 3, 1937) is an American retired Democratic politician and attorney who served as Attorney General of Illinois from 1991 to 1995. In January 2009, he was appointed a United States Senator, succeeding Barack Obama, who resigned to become president of the United States.
Apr 24, 2000 · On November 6, 1990, Roland W. Burris was elected attorney general for the state of Illinois. At that time, the only African American ranking higher in state office was Douglas Wilder, the governor of Virginia.
May 1, 2024 · Roland Burris is an American Democratic politician who was the first African American elected to statewide office in Illinois. His appointment as U.S. senator (2009–10) to fill the seat vacated by Pres. Barack Obama made him the fourth African American to serve in the Senate since Reconstruction.
Dec 31, 2008 · Mr. Burris served briefly in 1977 as executive director of Operation Push, the civil rights organization founded by Mr. Jackson. Mr. Burris was the state’s comptroller from 1979...
Dec 30, 2008 · He is a persistent man. After winning statewide races for comptroller and attorney general — which straddled a losing 1984 bid for U.S. Senate — he set a course for the governor’s mansion.
Jan 18, 2009 · On January 15, 2009 Roland Wallace Burris was sworn in as the U.S. Senator from Illinois. Burris’s appointment made him the third African American U.S. Senator from the state and the sixth black U.S. Senator in the history of the United States.
Roland W. Burris is a pioneer, accomplishing many firsts and other noteworthy achievements during his distinguished career. Born in 1937 in Centralia, Illinois, Burris earned a political science degree from Southern Illinois University, and later his law degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C.
