When Roland Burris moved his family back to Illinois from Washington, D.C., in 1963 after he fi nished law school, he swore only two conditions could convince him to move back to the nation’s capital: he would go either as vice-president or as a U.S. senator. Burris, 78, says he chose “vice president” because he never thought a black man would be elected president. That changed with the election of President Barack Obama in 2008, and Burris ended up being appointed to Obama’s seat in the U.S. Senate. That’s one of many anecdotes in Burris’ new memoir, The Man Who Stood Up to Be Seated. Burris visited Zion Baptist Church in Springfi eld on Tuesday for a book signing and speech. In the book, Burris addresses the drama over his appointment to the Senate, due to former governor Rod Blagojevich trying to profi t from his power to make that appointment. Blagojevich would later be impeached and spend time in federal prison, but an investigation showed Burris had done nothing wrong, and he served in the Senate until November 2010. Burris’ book also talks about his many other achievements, like being the fi rst African-American elected to statewide offi ce in Illinois. The book is available on Amazon.com and through Hunter Heart Publishing.