Dianne Wilkerson (born May 2, 1955) is a convicted felon and former Democratic member of the Massachusetts Senate, representing the 2nd Suffolk District from 1993 to 2008 as the first African American female to serve in the chamber.

In 1993, she became the first African American woman to serve in the Massachusetts Senate, winning election in 1992 after defeating incumbent Bill Owens in the Democratic primary.

She lost the September 2008 Democratic primary to Sonia Chang-Díaz, and on October 31, 2008, announced that she was ending her write-in campaign to seek re-election in the November 4, 2008, election.

[9] In September 2005, the Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly and head of the state's campaign finance office filed a lawsuit against Wilkerson, alleging she had not reported nearly $27,000 in donations and refused to explain more than $18,000 in personal reimbursements.

[10] The state Office of the Bar Counsel filed a complaint on October 3, 2008, accusing Wilkerson of violating the rules of professional conduct by lying under oath at a 2005 court hearing at which her nephew, Jermaine Berry, requested a new trial on a manslaughter conviction.

Wilkerson, who joined the bar in 1981 but had not practiced in a decade, gave "intentionally false, misleading, and deceptive testimony" at the Suffolk Superior Court hearing and in an affidavit, according to the eight-page petition for discipline.

Berry was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in Mack's death, but the senator testified that Isaac Wilkerson made statements that implicated himself during the interview.

Wilkerson was the subject of an 18-month-long undercover investigation conducted by the Boston Police Department and the FBI in which she allegedly accepted eight bribes in cash totaling $23,500.

[12][13] The bribes were allegedly accepted in return for her help in obtaining a liquor license for a proposed nightclub and transferring public land to a federal agent posing as a private developer.

[19] Despite the arrest, Wilkerson initially vowed to continue her write-in candidacy and criticized United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, whom she accused of "engaging in a political calculus to derail her campaign".

[20][21] However, on October 31, after meeting with members of Boston's Ten Point Coalition and Black Ministerial Alliance, she agreed to suspend her campaign stating "I am withdrawing from the race.