The first black senator popularly elected in the US, Edward Brooke, has died aged 95, Republican Party officials say.
Edward Brooke was elected to Congress in 1966 by voters in Massachusetts at a time of widespread racial unrest.
A former lawyer, Edward Brooke had also been the first African-American to hold the post of attorney general in any state when he was elected senator.
Two black senators before Edward Brooke were both picked by state legislatures.
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