Who was Shirley Chisholm?
Chisholm was born in Brooklyn in 1924 to immigrant parents from the Caribbean and spent part of her childhood in Barbados. She earned degrees at Brooklyn College and Columbia and worked in early childhood education before entering politics. She joined the New York State Assembly in 1965. In 1968 she was elected to Congress from Brooklyn's 12th District, becoming the first Black woman in the House, and she served seven terms, to 1983. In 1972 she sought the Democratic presidential nomination and won 152 delegate votes. She later taught at Mount Holyoke and died in Florida on January 1, 2005.
Political views
- She ran for Congress on the slogan Unbought and Unbossed.Source: nps.gov
- On the House Agriculture Committee she helped expand the food stamp program and create the WIC nutrition program for women, infants and children.Source: nps.gov
- She opposed the Vietnam War and worked to end it.Source: amacad.org
- In New York she created SEEK, a program providing scholarships to Black and Hispanic students at public universities.Source: womenshistory.org
- In the state legislature she passed job protection for teachers on maternity leave and extended unemployment insurance to domestic workers.Source: womenshistory.org
- In 1971 she co-founded the Congressional Black Caucus and the National Women's Political Caucus.Source: nps.gov
- She described her 1972 run as an effort to open doors for later candidates and to push the Democratic agenda, not necessarily to win.Source: womenshistory.org
Legacy
Chisholm is remembered as a trailblazer. Admirers credit her with widening the field for Black and women candidates, with nutrition programs that still operate, and with her independence from party machines. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2024, both after her death. Her presidential bid was underfunded and won about a tenth of the delegates. She was kept out of televised debates until she went to court, and the Congressional Black Caucus, then mostly men, was at times cool toward her campaign.