1928-

Liberian diplomat

Brooks was one of nine children, and her parents were forced by poverty to place her in a foster home where she was brought up by a widowed seamstress.

Ambitious to become a lawyer, she personally accosted President Tubman and prevailed on him to finance her education in the USA, were she graduated first from Shaw State University and then in law and political science from the University of Wisconsin and later studied at the University of London.

She was accredited by the Liberian Supreme Court in 1953, as the first woman Liberian lawyer. She had a career in government administration and legal education in Liberia before being appointed assistant secretary of state in 1958. In 1969 she became the first African woman to be elected president of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

In addition to two biological children she also has a number of foster or adopted children.

References

Dever, Maria, and Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
Diggs, Rachel Gbenyon. "Remarks ... on the Occasion of the Tenth Anniversary of the Patricia Roberts Harri Public Affairs Program at Howard University, Thursday, March 12, 1998." Available at: http://www.liberiaemb.org/speech.html

Indexes

African
Liberia
Uk/great Britain
USA
20th Century
21st Century
Government, Politics, Civil Service, Public Administration
Diplomats
Law
Adoptees/fosterees Who Are/were Also Adopters or Foster Parents
Formal, American/European-Type Fostering
Poverty
Single Adopters or Fosterers
Very Poor (Financially) Adoptive or Foster Families
Both Parents Unable or Unwilling to Care for Child
Birth Sibling(s) Separated