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North East Digital Village
Shirley Chisholm
The Fighting Shirley Chisholm
"Unbought and Unbossed"
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The first black woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm, was born November 30, 1924 in Brooklyn NY. Her father was from British Guiana and her mother from Barbados. She attended school in Barbados West Indies for several years before rejoining her parents in New York. She graduated from high school in New York, attended Brooklyn College where she graduated in 1946 with honors When Ms. Chisholm encountered racism at Brooklyn College, she fought against it. When the black students at Brooklyn College were denied admittance to a social club, she formed an alternative one. She graduated in 1946 with honors. While working as a teacher, she earned a Master's degree in elementary education from Teachers College, Columbia University. |
| "Racism is so universal in this country, so widespread and deep seeded, that it is invisible because it is so normal." |
In 1949, Shirley Anita St. Hill married Conrad Chisholm, a private investigator. Shirley and her husband participated in local politics, helping form the Bedford-Stuyvesant political League. In addition to participating in politics, Chisholm worked in the field of day care. From 1953-1959, she was director of the Hamilton-Madison Child Care Center, and from 1959-1964 was an educational consultant for the Division of Day Care. In 1960, she started the Unity Democratic Club that was instrumental in mobilizing black and Hispanic voters.
After working several years as a teacher in Harlem and a grassroots organizer in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, Ms. Chisholm won a seat on the New York General Assembly in 1964.
During her tenure in the legislature, she proposed a bill to provide state aid to day care centers and voted to increase funding for schools.
Chisholm campaigned to represent New York's Twelfth Congressional District - she won, defeating Republican candidate James Farmer - and became the first black woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She served for seven terms from 1969-1983.
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| "I was the first American citizen to be elected to Congress in spite of the double drawbacks of being female and having skin darkened by melanin. When you put it that way, it sounds like a foolish reason for fame. In a just and free society it would be foolish. That I am a national figure because I was the first person in 192 years to be at once a congressman, black and a woman proves, I think, that our society is not yet either just or free."
Shirley Chisholm on being elected to Congress
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During her first term in Congress, Chisholm championed the causes of women, the poor and those affected by racism. She was a staunch opponent of the war in Vietnam and often criticized President Richard Nixon. She vowed to defeat any bill that gave more funds to the Defense Department. She also pushed for unemployment insurance for domestic workers and day care providers and for college funds for low-income students.
"It is true that part of the problem has been that women have not been aggressive in demanding their rights. This was also true of the black population for many years. They submitted to oppression and even cooperated with it. Women have done the same thing. But now there is an awareness of this situation particularly among the younger segment of the population."
"As in the field of equal rights for blacks, Spanish-Americans, the Indians, and other groups, laws will not change such deep-seated problems overnight But they can be used to provide protection for those who are most abused, and to begin the process of evolutionary change by compelling the insensitive majority to reexamine it's unconscious attitudes."
"It is for this reason that I wish to introduce today a proposal that has been before every Congress for the last 40 years and that sooner or later must become part of the basic law of the land -- the equal rights amendment. "
cite: Equal Rights For Women by Shirley Chisholm, US House Representative Of New York, Address To The United States House Of Representatives, Washington, DC. May 21, 1969 [READ MORE] |
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In January 1972, Shirely Chisholm announced her candidacy for president.
"I stand before you today as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency of the United States. I am not the candidate of black America, although I am black and proud. I am not the candidate of the women's movement of this country, although I am a woman, and I am equally proud of that. I am not the candidate of any political bosses or special interests. I am the candidate of the people"
~Opening of Shirley Chisholm's campaign speech for the presidency in 1972 |
Ms. Chisholm served in the House of Representatives until 1982. She has honorary degrees and awards including: Alumna of the Year, Brooklyn College; Key Woman of the Year; Outstanding Work in the Field of Child Welfare; and Woman of Achievement. In 1993, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
Chisholm also authored two books, Unbought and Unbossed (1970) and The Good Fight (1973).
Shirley Chishom remained active until her death on January 1, 2005 in Ormond Beach, Florida.
Shirley Chisholm's "Firsts"
- First African-American woman elected to the U.S. Congress
- In 1972 she became the first African American woman to campaign for the presidency. (The first woman ever to run for president was Victoria Woodhull, in 1872, on the Equal Rights Party platform.)
- 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami was the first major convention in which any woman was considered for the presidential nomination
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
National Women's Hall of Fame greatwomen.org
wikipedia.org
pbs.org
africanamericans.com
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000371
http://nh.essortment.com/shirleychisholm_ruol.htm
The Good Fight. New York; Harper & Row, 1973. NOTES: " A Cass Canfield book".
Unbought and Unbossed: An Autobiography. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1970.
Scheader, Catherine. Shirley Chisholm: Teacher and Congresswoman. Enslow Publishers, 1990.
Pollack, Jill S. Shirley Chisholm. Watts Franklin, 1994.
Hicks, Nancy. The Honorable Shirley Chisholm, Congresswoman from Brooklyn. Lion Books, 1971.
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