[10] He attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1959.

His tombstone reads "TRAIL BLAZER" and includes a list of his accomplishments, with space left for future ones.

[12][13][14] After graduating from law school, Burris became National Bank Examiner for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for the U.S. Treasury Department.

[citation needed] The adversities he faced as an African-American bank examiner in the early 1960s were described in some detail in the February 2013 edition of SuperVisions (the OCC's employee newsletter).

[16] In 1973, he was appointed by Illinois Governor Dan Walker as Director of the Department of Central Management Services, serving through 1977.

This decision, coming on the heels of the party's landslide loss to President Ronald Reagan, generated controversy, since Gary, Indiana Mayor Richard Hatcher, who had served as the campaign manager for presidential candidate Jesse Jackson, was the nominee of the party's Black Caucus.

[18] Burris sought the Democratic nomination for the office of Illinois Comptroller in 1976, but was defeated by Michael Bakalis.

[23] In 1985, 19-year-old Rolando Cruz was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death along with a co-defendant in a DuPage County Circuit Court, for the kidnapping, rape, and murder of a 10-year-old child.

In 1992, Assistant Attorney General Mary Brigid Kenney, whom Burris had assigned to fight Cruz's appeal, sent Burris a memo identifying numerous errors in the investigation and trial in Cruz's initial conviction, and refusing to participate in upholding what she considered to be a wrongful conviction.

"[24] In September 1995, DNA tests showed that neither Cruz nor his co-defendant were the contributors of the semen found at the crime scene, thus exonerating them.

[25] In 2002 Governor George Ryan fully pardoned Cruz,[26] and went on to declare a moratorium on the death penalty in Illinois, asserting that the system was "fraught with error".

[27] In 1993, Burris, an advocate for a national handgun ban, helped to organize Chicago's first Gun Turn-in Day.

Netsch would go down to defeat the following November against incumbent Republican Governor Jim Edgar in an election where Democrats lost every single race for statewide office.

In that race, Burris caused a controversy by referring to his Democratic primary opponents — Jim Burns, Glenn Poshard (who eventually won the nomination) and John Schmidt — as "nonqualified white boys.

[38] Consequently, a group of funeral directors (plaintiffs in a suit filed January 2009 against the IFDA alleging a Ponzi scheme[39]) have subpoenaed Burris to find out his involvement during his time as lobbyist.

A scene in the movie, which was mainly shot in Chicago, shows Burris in the St. Patrick's Day parade, waving to spectators.

[42] On December 14, 2008, Burris suggested himself as a possible caretaker for the United States Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama, saying he would not run for election if appointed.

[44] This suggestion came in the wake of an FBI investigation regarding charges of corruption against the Governor for seeking bribes in a pay-to-play scheme for the empty Senate seat and other offenses.

[52] Some Democrats, including the chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee, Dianne Feinstein, and the Congressional Black Caucus, spoke out in favor of Burris being seated.

It also said Illinois is not obligated to use, and hence its Secretary of State is not required to sign, the Senate's "recommended" certification form.

[65] Democratic officials, including Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, supported an investigation.

[46] In 2009, Senator Burris was named one of the 15 Most Corrupt Members of Congress by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

[79] Sangamon County State's Attorney John Schmidt announced on June 19, 2009, that Burris would not face criminal perjury charges, stating that Burris's promise to "personally do something" for Governor Blagojevich was too vague to rise to the level of criminality, as it could be interpreted in too many different ways.

[80] Burris praised the announcement, saying, "The truth has prevailed"; meanwhile, Durkin criticized Schmidt's decision, saying, "They're all contradictions to his previously sworn statements.

Durbin stated that "it would be extremely difficult for him to be successful",[68] and on April 16, the Chicago Tribune reported that Burris had raised only $845 for his campaign.