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Decades before Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, there was Shirley Chisholm. As the first black woman to run for president for a major political party she was years ahead of her time. So why don’t more people know about her? Shirley Chisholm made history as she announced her candidacy for the White House. Her bid for the top job was short-lived, but the symbolism is as powerful today as it was then.
1960s Shirley developed an interest in politics.
From 1965 to 1968 she was a Democrat in the New York State Assembly.In the New York State Assembly, she was able to secure unemployment benefits for those working in the domestic field.1968- elected to Congress from NY, making her the first African American woman in this position. She served 7 terms appointed to the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and then eventually the Education and Labor Committee.In 1972 she became the first African-American and female to make a bid to become United States President, running for the Democratic nomination.She served as Secretary of the House Democratic Caucus from 1977 to 1981.Shirley Chisholm was instrumental in improving the lives of inner-city residents in her terms in government. She worked to improve healthcare, social services, and education.She retired from Congress in 19821983 she taught sociology and politics1993 nominated as US ambassador to Jamaica but her health prevented her to accept2005, January 1st, she passed away at the age of 802015 she was awarded the presidential medal of honor“If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”
“Tremendous amounts of talent are lost to our society just because that talent wears a skirt.”
“The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, ‘It’s a girl’.”
“My God, what do we want? What does any human being want? Take away an accident of pigmentation of a thin layer of our outer skin and there is no difference between me and anyone else.”
“In the end, anti-black, anti-female, and all forms of discrimination are equivalent to the same thing – anti-humanism.”
“I have no intention of just sitting quietly and observing. I intend to speak out immediately in order to focus on the nation’s problems,” Chisholm said of her new role.
Her victory, against the backdrop of the civil rights era, was a huge milestone, but with it came challenges.
“Can you imagine being a woman, and black in congress then?” says Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who represents the 13th District of California and is one of 35 African-American women who has served in Congress to date.
The first black woman, and the second ever female on the influential rules committee in Congress, she shattered a lot of glass ceilings, says Lee.
“Some of the men in Congress did not respect her, she just stood out and they didn’t get her. But she wouldn’t back down. She didn’t go along to get along, she went to change things.”
Shirley Chisholm Campaign Button, 1972
There are of course many other salient quotes from Chisholm which delineate her positions and perspectives. Among them are:
“At present, our country needs women’s idealism and determination, perhaps more in politics than anywhere else.”
“Tremendous amounts of talent are lost to our society just because that talent wears a skirt.”
“You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.”
“Of my two handicaps, being female put many more obstacles in my path than being black.”
The National Visionary Leadership Project has a series of oral history interviews with Ms. Chisholm in its archives, conducted by journalist Renee Poussaint.
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