In 1972, while I was a junior in high school, I followed the presidential election process that year with great interest. President Nixon was running for re-election and there were several Democratic challengers. Senator George McGovern would eventually become the party’s nominee, but during the primary process, I kept hearing the name Shirley Chisholm as a candidate.
Of course, the media gave her almost no attention. All I knew about her was that she was a member of Congress, a woman, and she was Black. That caught my attention, but it wasn't easy to find out more about her without the benefit of cable news channels or the internet. The television networks blocked her from participating in the debates and it was a rare newspaper article that covered her campaign which came to be called the “Chisholm Trail.”
Not every state allowed her to place her name on the primary ballots, however, she went on to have her name appear in 12 states. With little or no attention, she garnered 152 delegates (10% of the total) and participated in the Democratic Convention that year.
Shirley Chisholm had made history in 1972 as the first Black woman to seriously seek the nomination for President from either major political party. Her historic achievement was lost on my high school-distracted brain. I came to understand and appreciate her contribution much later.
Later, I discovered that Shirley Chisholm was the first Black female to serve in Congress having been elected to her New York district in 1968. She would become an outspoken leader for people of color and women serving in Congress until 1983 when she retired. She wrote her autobiography—Unbought and Unbossed—illustrating her outspoken advocacy for women and minorities during her seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.
After retirement from public service, she taught at Mount Holyoke College and co-founded the National Political Congress of Black Women. In 1991 she moved to Florida and later declined the nomination to become U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica due to ill health. Of her legacy, Chisholm said, “I want to be remembered as a woman … who dared to be a catalyst of change.”
She was a catalyst for change. In my estimation, she would have been a great President of the United States.
Here is a timeline highlighting some of her many achievements:
1924 – Born in Brooklyn to immigrant parents
1942 - Graduated from Brooklyn Girls’ High
1946 – Graduated from Brooklyn College cum laude (gaining notice on the debate team)
1946-1951 – Was a nursery schoolteacher, while working on a Masters's Degree
1951 – Earned a Master’s from Columbia University in Early Childhood Education
1950s – Was a consultant to the New York City Division of Day Care. Aware of racial and gender inequality, she joined local chapters of the League of Women Voters, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Urban League, as well as the Democratic Party club
1964 - Became the second African American elected to the New York State Legislature
1968 – Ran for and was elected to Congress representing a New York District; known as “Fighting Shirley”; introduced more than 50 bills to promote racial and gender equality, help the poor, and end the Vietnam War.
1971 – She helped to establish the National Women's Political Caucus
1972 – Became the first Black female to run for President of the United States
1970s – Forceful advocate for the Women’s Equal Rights Amendment
1977 – Became the first Black woman and second woman ever to serve on the powerful House Rules Committee
1983 – Retired from Congress, began teaching at Mount Holyoke College; later founded the Political Congress of Black Women
1990 – Formed the African-American Women for Reproductive Freedom organization
1993 – Inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame
2005 – Died at her home in Florida
Chisholm's legacy came into renewed focus during the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton staged their historic "firsts" battle – where the victor would either be the first major-party African-American nominee, or the first woman nominee – with at least one media observer crediting Chisholm's 1972 campaign as having paved the way for both of them.
By the time of the 50th anniversary of Chisholm entering Congress, The New York Times was headlining "2019 Belongs to Shirley Chisholm", saying that "Chisholm was a one-woman precursor to modern progressive politics" and that she was "enjoying a resurgence of interest 14 years after her death.”
She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (posthumously) by President Barack Obama in 2015.
Each new generation needs to learn of this courageous and accomplished Black woman!
Yes, she must be remembered! With each new generation!
Thanks for the memory, she indeed was an amazing woman.