25 Facts About Angie Brooks

Angie Elizabeth Brooks was a Liberian diplomat and jurist.

Angie Brooks was the first African female President of the United Nations General Assembly.

Angie Brooks served as Assistant Secretary of State of Liberia.

Angie Brooks was the second born out of a total of ten children, and her impoverished parents could not afford to keep her and made the difficult decision to foster her to a widowed seamstress in Monrovia, Liberia.

At eleven years old, Angie Brooks taught herself to type and earned money copying legal documents to put herself through school.

Angie Brooks worked as a stenotypist for the Justice Department to pay for high school.

Angie Brooks had two sons with Henries before attaining a divorce.

In 1963, while an appointed UN Delegate, Angie Brooks visited Raleigh to deliver a speech at North Carolina State University.

Angie Brooks partially financed her studies by working as a dishwasher, laundress, library assistant, and nurse's aide.

Angie Brooks did graduate work in international law at the University College's Faculty of Laws at the University of London in 1952 and 1953, and she obtained a Doctor of Civil Law degree from the University of Liberia in 1964.

Additionally, Angie Brooks earned Doctor of Law degrees from Shaw University and Howard University in 1962 and 1967 respectively.

Angie Brooks returned to Liberia where she served as Counsellor-at-law to the Supreme Court of Liberia.

Angie Brooks was the first woman to serve as the Assistant Attorney-General of Liberia from August 1953 to March 1958.

Angie Brooks founded a Department of Law at the University of Liberia to ensure that other Liberians would be able to earn law degrees without having to leave their country.

Angie Brooks trained as a diplomat with the United States Foreign Service, a skill she put to good use when, in 1954, she was asked to fill a last-minute vacancy in the Liberian delegation to the United Nations.

Angie Brooks was cognizant of the gulf between the UN's stated commitments to change and the actions that would make those commitments reality.

Angie Brooks made it her personal mission to transform the United Nations into an institution capable of meeting the problems of the world head-on by cutting down on bloviating debate and focusing on substantive deliberation that addressed real issues in a meaningful way.

Angie Brooks was especially concerned with the welfare of newly independent nations that had previously been administered as colonies or UN mandates.

Angie Brooks expressed concern over the welfare and legal rights of women, arguing that they must have more of a voice in the political decisions of their nations in order to prevent warfare.

Angie Brooks wanted the law to be an attainable profession for women, free from discrimination.

Angie Brooks served in this capacity until a coup d'etat in 1980.

Angie Brooks had an intense interest in traditional African art and amassed an extensive collection which was eventually turned into a museum in Liberia.

Angie Brooks had two biological sons, Richard A Henries II and Wynston Henries from her first marriage to Richard A Henries I In addition, she was a foster mother to daughters Marjorie and Eda.

In total, Angie Brooks fostered at least 47 Liberian children in honor of her own foster mother; many of them were raised on her rubber plantation in Wearleah.

Angie Brooks received a state funeral in Liberia and was buried in her birthplace of Virginia in Montserrado County.