Cory Booker is an American politician and attorney who has served as the junior United States senator from New Jersey since 2013. He was the 38th mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013, and served on the Municipal Council of Newark for the Central Ward from 1998 to 2002. Booker was born in Washington, D.C., but grew up in Harrington Park, New Jersey, 20 miles northeast of Newark. His parents, Carolyn Rose (née Jordan) and Cary Alfred Booker, were among the first black IBM executives. Booker has Sierra Leonean ancestry, which he learned when featured on the PBS television program Finding Your Roots. Therefore, Cory Bookers ethnicity is African American with Sierra Leonean ancestry.