Cory Booker, the elected mayor of Newark, New Jersey, in 2006, was instilled with a strong sense of civil rights activism from a young age. His parents, Carolyn Rose (Jordan) and Cary Alfred Booker, were pioneers in their field, being among the first black executives at IBM. Born in Washington, D.C., Cory grew up in Harrington Park, a predominantly white suburban town in northern New Jersey.
Cory's academic achievements were impressive, earning a B.A. in political science and an M.A. in sociology from Stanford University. He was a star football player and served as student government council president. His academic prowess earned him a Rhodes Scholarship to Queens College, Oxford, England, where he obtained an honors degree in modern history in 1994.
During his time at Oxford, Cory met Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and became president of the L'Chaim Society, an organization dedicated to bridging the gap between Jews and African-Americans. After returning to the United States, Cory attended Yale Law School, graduating in 1997. He then established several free legal clinics for low-income residents in neighboring New Haven, Connecticut.
Cory's professional and personal experiences led him to become deeply involved in Newark's community. He worked as a staff attorney for the Urban Justice Center in New York City and later became Program Coordinator of the Newark Youth Project. Despite his success, Cory chose to live in a notorious Newark housing project, the Brick Towers, to better understand the challenges faced by its residents.
In 1998, Cory won election to the Newark City Council in an upset victory over a four-term incumbent. He went on to lead a hunger strike to protest drug-dealing in one of Newark's worst housing projects and spent five months living in a motor home to gain a deeper understanding of the city's problems.
Cory's efforts to improve Newark's conditions were met with resistance from local government, and his proposed ordinances were consistently voted down. Frustrated, Cory decided not to seek re-election but instead ran for mayor in 2002. Although he lost, he continued to work towards improving Newark, establishing the nonprofit organization Newark Now and becoming a partner in a West Orange law firm.
In 2006, Cory ran for mayor again, and this time he won, taking more than 72% of the vote in the largest landslide victory in Newark's history. His first few months in office were marked by turmoil, including a lawsuit against the city over land sales and the discovery of an assassination plot by Newark street gangs.
