Shirley Chisholm

• Born: 30 November 1924
• Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York
• Died: 1 January 2005
• Best Known As: The first African-American woman to run for U.S. president

Name at birth: Shirley Anita St. Hill

Shirley Chisholm was the first African-American woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress. She served seven terms as a representative from New York's 12th district, from 1969 until her retirement in 1982. Chisholm grew up in Barbados and also in New York City, where she earned a graduate degree from Columbia University in 1952. She taught school before entering the New York state assembly in 1964 and then easily winning election to Congress in 1968. She ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 1972, becoming the first African-American woman to run for the office. An opponent of the Vietnam War and a proponent of education and child welfare, she received about 5% of the vote at the party's national convention. (She lost the nomination to George McGovern, who was defeated by Republican incumbent Richard Nixon in the general election.) Chisholm wrote the memoirs Unbossed and Unbought (1970) and The Good Fight (1973).

Chisholm earned a B.A. from Brooklyn College in 1946, and a master's degree in elementary education from Columbia University in 1952... Chisholm was married twice: to Conrad O. Chisholm, from 1949 until their divorce in 1977, and to Buffalo businessman Arthur Hardwick from 1977 until his death in 1986... Chisholm had no children.

(born Nov. 30, 1924, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S. — died Jan. 1, 2005, Ormond Beach, Fla.) U.S. politician. A graduate of Columbia University (M.A., 1952), she was a schoolteacher before becoming active in local politics. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1968, she became the first African American woman to serve in Congress. During her 15 years in the House, she was known for her strong liberal views, including her opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and her advocacy of full-employment programs. She cofounded the National Women's Political Caucus. As a candidate for the Democratic Party's 1972 U.S. presidential nomination, she won 152 delegates before withdrawing from the race.

For more information on Shirley Chisholm, visit Britannica.com.

Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm (born 1924) was the first Black woman to serve in the United States Congress. She served as the representative for the 12th district of New York from 1969 until 1982. In 1972, when she became the first black woman to actively run for the presidency of the United States, she won ten percent of the votes at the Democratic National Convention.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, to Barbadian parents, Chisholm was raised in an atmosphere that was both political and religious. Her father was a staunch follower of the West Indian political activist Marcus Garvey, who advocated black pride and unity among blacks to achieve economic and political power. Chisholm received much of her primary education in her parents homeland, Barbados, under the strict eye of her maternal grandmother. Chisholm, who returned to New York when she was ten years old, credits her educational successes to the well-rounded early training she received in Barbados.

Attending New York public schools, Chisholm was able to compete well in the predominantly white classrooms. She attended Girls' High School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a section of the city with a growing poor black and immigrant population. She won tuition scholarships to both Oberlin and Vassar, but at the urging of her parents decided to live at home and attend Brooklyn College. While training to be a teacher she became active in several campus and community groups. Developing a keen interest in politics, she began to learn the arts of organizing and fund raising. She deeply resented the role of women in local politics, which consisted mostly of staying in the background, sponsoring fund raising events, and turning the money over to male party leaders who would then decide how to use it. During her school years, she became interested in the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and eventually joined both groups.

From Classroom to Congress

After graduating cum laude from Brooklyn College in 1946 Chisholm began to work as a nursery school teacher and later as a director of schools for early childhood education. In 1949 she married Conrad Chisholm. She continued to teach but her political interest never waned. After a successful career as a teacher, Chisholm decided to run for the New York State Assembly in 1964. She won the election.

During the time that she served in the assembly, Chisholm sponsored 50 bills, but only eight of them passed. The bills she sponsored reflected her interest in the cause of blacks and the poor, women's rights, and educational opportunities. One of the successful bills provided assistance for poor students to go on for higher education. Another provided employment insurance coverage for personal and domestic employees. Still another reversed a law that caused female teachers in New York to lose their tenure while they were out on maternity leave.

Chisholm served in the State Assembly until 1968 and then decided to run for the U.S. Congress. Her opponent was the noted civil rights leader James Farmer. Possibly because Chisholm was a well-known resident of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Farmer was not, she won easily. Thus began her tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives from the 91st through the 97th Congress (1969-1982). Always considering herself a political maverick, Chisholm attempted to focus as much of her attention as possible on the needs of her constituents. She served on several House committees: Agriculture, Veterans' Affairs, Rules and Education, and Labor. During the 91st Congress when she was assigned to the Forestry Committee, she protested saying that she wanted to work on committees that could deal with the "critical problems of racism, deprivation and urban decay." (There are no forests in Bedford-Stuyvesant.)

Chisholm began to protest the amount of money being expended for the defense budget while social programs suffered. She argued that she would not agree that money should be spent for war while Americans were hungry, ill-housed, and poorly educated. Early in her career as a congresswoman she began to support legislation allowing abortions for women who chose to have them. Chisholm protested the traditional roles for women professionals - secretaries, teachers, and librarians. She argued that women were capable of entering many other professions and that they should be encouraged to do so. Black women, too, she felt, had been shunted into stereotypical maid and nanny roles from which they needed to escape both by legislation and by self-effort. Her antiwar and women's liberation views made her a popular figure among college students, and she was beseiged with invitations to speak at college campuses.

Presidential Contender

In 1972 Chisholm made the decision that she would run for the highest office in the land - the presidency. In addition to her interest in civil rights for blacks, women, and the poor, she spoke out about the judicial system in the United States, police brutality, prison reform, gun control, politician dissent, drug abuse, and numerous other topics. She appeared on the television show "Face the Nation" with three other democratic presidential candidates: George McGovern, Henry Jackson, and Edmund Muskie. George McGovern won the presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention, but Chisholm captured ten percent of the delegates' votes. As a result of her candidacy, Chisholm was voted one of the ten most admired women in the world.

After her unsuccessful presidential campaign, Chisholm continued to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives for another decade. As a member of the Black Caucus she was able to watch black representation in the Congress grow and to welcome other black female congresswomen. Finally, in 1982, she announced her retirement from the Congress.

Final Years

From 1983 to 1987 Chisholm served as Purington Professor at Massachusetts' Mt. Holyoke College where she taught politics and women's studies. In 1985 she was the visiting scholar at Spelman College, and in 1987 retired from teaching altogether. Chisholm continued to be involved in politics by cofounding the National Political Congress of Black Women in 1984. She also worked vigorously for the presidential campaign of Jesse Jackson in 1984 and 1988. "Jackson is the voice of the poor, the disenchanted, the disillusioned," Chisholm was quoted as saying in Newsweek, "and that is exactly what I was."

In 1993 President Bill Clinton nominated Chisolm as Ambassador to Jamaica, but due to declining health, she withdrew her name from further consideration.

Further Reading

Chisholm has written two autobiographical accounts, Unbought and Unbossed (1970) and The Good Fight (1973). There are several other books about her political career which are especially geared to young readers. A few of them are: Lenore K. Itzkowitz, Shirley Chisholm for President (1974); James Haskins, Fighting Shirley Chisholm (1975); and Nancy Hicks, The Honorable Shirley Chisholm, Congresswoman from Brooklyn (1971). The Congressional Record for the 91st through 97th Congress can be used to find the texts of Chisholm's speeches.

politician; writer; educator

Personal Information

Born Shirley Anita St. Hill on November 30, 1924, in Brooklyn, NY; died on January 3, 2005, in Ormond Beach, FL; daughter of Charles and Ruby St. Hill; married Conrad Chisholm (divorced, 1977); married Arthur Hardwick, Jr., 1977 (died, 1986); children: none
Education: Brooklyn College, BA, cum laude; Columbia University, MA.
Politics: Democrat.
Memberships: League of Women Voters, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), National Board of Americans for Democratic Action, Delta Sigma Theta.

Career

Mount Calvary Child Care Center, New York City, teacher for seven years during the 1940s; member of New York State Assembly, 1964-68; U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC, Democratic congresswoman from 12th New York District, 1969-82; ran for Democratic party nomination for U.S. presidency, 1972; Mt. Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA, Purington Professor, 1983-2004(?); writer; lecturer. Visiting scholar, Spelman College, 1985. Cofounder, National Political Congress of Black Women; member of advisory council, National Organization for Women; honorary committee member, United Negro College Fund.

Life's Work

In becoming the first black, as well as the first woman, to ever seek a major political party's nomination for the U.S. presidency, former New York congresswoman Shirley Chisholm demonstrated that aspirations for the nation's executive office need not be the exclusive domain of white males. Chisholm's unsuccessful 1972 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination--largely viewed as more symbolic than practical--was intended to both break ground and prove a point. "I ran because someone had to do it first," she stated in The Good Fight, her candid recounting of the campaign. "In this country everybody is supposed to be able to run for President, but that's never been really true. I ran because most people think the country is not ready for a black candidate, not ready for a woman candidate." By staying in the race all the way to the Democratic National Convention, Chisholm hoped to set an example for other nontraditional presidential candidates. "The next time a woman runs, or a black, a Jew or anyone from a group that the country is 'not ready' to elect to its highest office, I believe he or she will be taken seriously from the start. The door is not open yet, but it is ajar."

Chisholm's reputation as a trailblazer for minorities in politics, however, is more lastingly illustrated by her tenure in Congress. The first black woman ever elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, Chisholm served from 1969 to 1982 as congresswoman from New York's 12th District, which comprised a largely black constituency in her home city of Brooklyn. Chisholm soon became famous for her candid and strongly held viewpoints as well as her refusal to be undaunted by the status quo of the congressional power structure. "Since I went to the House of Representatives in 1969, I have grown to detest many of the white Northern liberals who are always ready with rhetoric about equal opportunity in jobs and education, {however} when the time comes to put the heat on, in committee and on the floor, and do something, like passing an amendment or increasing an appropriation, too many of these white knights turn up missing," she wrote in The Good Fight. Criticizing what she called a media-driven image or "mold" that often predetermines candidates for public office, Chisholm suggested, "Could it be that the persistence of poverty, hunger, racism, war, semiliteracy and unemployment is partly due to the fact that we have excluded so many persons from the processes that make and carry out social policies?"

Chisholm was born Shirley Anita St. Hill in 1924 in Brooklyn. Her early schooling took place on the Caribbean island of Barbados, where she and her two sisters were sent to live with their grandmother because of family financial difficulties. "Years later I would know what an important gift my parents had given me by seeing to it that I had my early education in the strict, traditional, British-style schools of Barbados," Chisholm stated in her 1970 autobiography Unbought and Unbossed. "If I speak and write easily now, that early education is the main reason." In 1934, the daughters were rejoined with their parents, who were still struggling financially in the midst of the Great Depression but nevertheless provided a rich family life. Chisholm's father was an avid reader who introduced the youngster to the teachings of early black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey, while her mother emphasized the importance of her daughters' receiving quality educations. An excellent student in high school, Chisholm received scholarship offers to Vassar and Oberlin colleges, but enrolled in the more financially accessible Brooklyn College.

At Brooklyn College, Chisholm decided to pursue a career in teaching. Her political awareness as a black--which had been fostered by her father--was heightened when she became a member of the Harriet Tubman Society. "There," as she wrote in Unbought and Unbossed, "I first heard people other than my father talk about white oppression, black racial consciousness, and black pride." Although she was assured by both professors and fellow students that she possessed ideal qualities for a political career, Chisholm continued her studies in education. She graduated with honors in the early 1940s, and subsequently worked for seven years as a teacher at a child care center in New York City. At the same time, she pursued her master's degree in early childhood education at Columbia University, where she also met her future husband, Conrad Chisholm.

During the 1950s, Chisholm became involved for the first time with political campaigning when she worked to elect a black underdog lawyer, Lewis S. Flagg, Jr., to a district court judgeship in New York. In 1960, she helped form the Unity Democratic Club, an organization that sought to promote and elect candidates for New York State's 17th Assembly District. Deciding to run herself for the 17th District representative seat, she won a landslide victory in the fall of 1964 after a long and grueling campaign. Chisholm served on the New York legislature for the next four years and gained a reputation as a competent and effective lawmaker. She helped introduce bills to assist disadvantaged students in obtaining quality education and to secure unemployment insurance for domestic employees.

Chisholm's political aspirations broadened in the late 1960s with the creation of New York's 12th Congressional District. She decided to pursue the new congressional seat in spite of sparse campaign funds and entered a heated primary race against a much-favored Democratic party candidate, William Thompson. Her hard work, combined with a low voter turnout, resulted in a slim primary victory and helped carry her in the fall election against Republican opponent James Farmer. Chisholm proved to be a determined and outspoken representative who was especially vocal in her support of programs and policies that benefited disadvantaged groups. During her tenure, she served on the Veterans' Affairs Committee, the Education and Labor Committee, and the influential House Rules Committee.

Three years into her congressional career, Chisholm further distinguished herself by becoming the first black woman to seek a major political party nomination for the presidency. Although many political observers considered her chances for victory remote, Chisholm nonetheless pressed ahead, and at the final Democratic convention tally, she received a total of 151 votes. In The Good Fight she assessed the possible long-range effects of her campaign: "The United States was said not to be ready to elect a Catholic to the Presidency when Al Smith ran in the 1920s. But Smith's nomination may have helped pave the way for the successful campaign John F. Kennedy waged in 1960. Who can tell? What I hope most is that now there will be others who will feel themselves as capable of running for high political office as any wealthy, good-looking white male."

Chisholm retired from public office in 1982, wanting to spend more time with her ailing second husband Arthur Hardwick, who had been critically injured in an automobile accident. At the time of her retirement from Congress, Chisholm expressed her frustration with both the male-dominated power structure on Capitol Hill as well as the social policies of President Ronald Reagan's administration. In her typically direct manner, she stated in a 1982 Glamour article that one of the major problems in the United States was a "scarcity of people in power who are sensitive to the needs, hopes, and aspirations of the various segments of our multi-faceted society. We have become too plastic; we have become too theoretical.... We need individuals who are compassionate, concerned, committed." Commenting on the necessity of more women pursuing political careers, Chisholm added, "Men don't seem to have time for complexity.... They really do not give enough attention to the areas of conservation and preservation of human resources."

Her retirement from Congress did not cast Chisholm into oblivion. She remained extremely active, serving as Purington Professor at Massachusetts' Mt. Holyoke College. There she taught politics and women's studies throughout the 1980s. She also remained involved in U.S. politics, co-founding in 1984, the National Political Congress of Black Women, which in 1988 sent a delegation of over 100 women to the Democratic National Convention. Chisholm also participated in the presidential campaigns of black candidate Jesse Jackson. "Jackson is the voice of the poor, the disenchanted, the disillusioned," she was quoted as saying in Newsweek, "and that is exactly what I was."

Chisholm moved to Florida in 1991 and eased into less strenuous retirement. After suffering many strokes, Chisholm died at age 80 on January 1, 2005, in her Florida home. She will be remembered well. Her career, especially her struggle for political power, was brought vividly to life in the documentary, Chisholm '72: Unbought and Unbossed. Producer Shola Lynch compiled newsreels and fresh interviews to highlight Chisholm's run for the presidency, even including interviews with Chisholm in her old age. In the documentary, Chisholm explained that despite her many historic "firsts" she would like to be remembered differently: "When I die, I want to be remembered as a woman who lived in the 20th century and who dared to be a catalyst of change," Chisholm noted in the film, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "I want to be remembered as a woman who fought for change in the 20th century." National Public television aired the documentary in February to commemorate Chisholm's life. Hopefully, the world will remember her as she saw herself; according to Newsweek her preferred epitaph would be "Shirley Chisholm had guts."

Awards

Woman of the Year award, Clairol, 1973, for outstanding achievement in public affairs; recipient of numerous honorary degrees.

Works

Selected writings

• Unbought and Unbossed, Houghton, 1970.
• The Good Fight, Houghton, 1973.

Further Reading

Books

• Scheader, Catherine, Shirley Chisholm: Teacher and Congresswoman, Enslow, 1990.

Periodicals

• Essence, August 1982.
• Glamour, November 1982.
• Houston Chronicle, January 9, 2005.
• Jet, January 24, 2005.
• Newsweek, November 14, 1983; May 21, 1984; January 17, 2005.
• Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 3, 2005.
• Time, June 21, 1982.
• Variety, February 9, 2004.

On-line

• "About Shirley Chisholm," PBS, www.pbs.org/pov/pov2005/chisholm/about_chisholm.html (March 9, 2005).
• "Chisholm '72: Unbought and Unbossed,"; Black Sky Media, www.chisholm72.net (March 9, 2005).
• "Shirley Chisholm," AfricanAmericans.com, www.africanamericans.com/shirleyChisholm.htm (March 9, 2005).
• "Shirley Chisholm's 1972 Presidential Campaign," Jo Freeman, www.jofreeman.com/polhistory/chisholm.htm (March 9, 2005).

Other

• Chisholm '72: Unbought and Unbossed (film), REALside Productions, 2004.

— Michael E. Mueller and Sara Pendergast

See also African Americans in government

Sources

• Shirley Chisholm, The Good Fight (New York: Harper & Row, 1973).
• Shirley Chisholm, Unbought and Unbossed (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1970)

Chisholm, Shirley Anita St. Hill (chĭz'əm), 1924-2005, U.S. congresswoman (1969-83), b. Brooklyn, N.Y. An expert on early childhood education, she worked (1959-64) as a consultant to the New York City bureau of child welfare before serving (1964-68) in the state assembly. Elected (1968) to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat, Chisholm became the first black woman to serve in that body. She quickly gained national attention as a vocal critic of the war in Vietnam and the House seniority system and as an outspoken advocate of the interests of the urban poor. An active member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Chisholm made an unsuccessful bid for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination. In 1993 she was nominated to be U.S. ambassador to Jamaica but withdrew because of ill health. She wrote Unbought and Unbossed (1970) and The Good Fight (1973).

Democrat Shirley Chisholm of New York became the first African American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representative in 1968. In 1972, she ran for president on the Democratic ticket. The 1972 Democratic National Convention marked the first major party convention in which a woman was considered for the presidential nomination. Her campaign brochure utilized her familiar slogan, "Unbossed and Unbought," and emphasized her support of the urban poor. Although she did not win the party nomination, she received 151 of the delegates' votes. As the first African American woman to campaign for the presidency, Chisholm blazed a trail for other candidates like herself who, as she noted in her autobiography The Good Fight (1973), "will feel themselves as capable of running for high political office as any wealthy, good-looking white male." Chisholm continued to serve in the House of Representatives until 1982. Since that time, she has remained active in politics, supporting Jesse Jackson's campaigns for presidency and acting as chairperson of the National Political Congress of Black Women.

A distinguished congresswoman, scholar, and African American spokeswoman, Shirley Anita Chisholm was the first black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. A dynamic public speaker who boldly challenged traditional politics, Fighting Shirley Chisholm, as she called herself during her first congressional campaign, championed liberal legislation from her seat in the House beginning with her inauguration in 1968 and continuing until her retirement in 1982. Admirers and foes alike dubbed her the Pepperpot because of her fondness for saying, "I breathe fire." She ran an unsuccessful campaign for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination. From 1982 to 1987 she was Purington Professor at Mount Holyoke College, in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Known for her wit, dedication, and compassion, she remains a fierce and eloquent voice on national matters.

Chisholm was born Shirley Anita St. Hill on November 30, 1924, in the impoverished Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. Her father, an emigrant from Guyana, worked as an unskilled laborer, and her mother, a native of Barbados, was a seamstress and a domestic worker. Extraordinary circumstances separated Chisholm from her parents for much of her early childhood. Struggling to save money for a house and for their children's education, the St. Hills sent their four daughters to live on the farm of a grandmother in Barbados. From the age of three to the age of eleven, Chisholm received a British elementary school education and acquired a West Indian rhythm of speech. An important influence on her early life, her grandmother instilled in her the values of pride, courage, and faith. Her parents took her back to Brooklyn at the age of eleven.

Graduating with an excellent academic record from a Brooklyn girls' high school, Chisholm earned a scholarship to study sociology at Brooklyn College. She quickly became active in political circles, joining the Harriet Tubman Society, serving as an Urban League volunteer, and winning prizes in debate. Her interest in her community led her to attend city meetings, where, as a student, she astonished older adults by confronting civic leaders with questions about the quality of government services to her predominantly black neighborhood. While beginning to establish her profile in her community, she also impressed her professors with a powerful speaking style and was encouraged to enter politics. She received her sociology degree with honors in 1946. While working in a nursery school she studied for a master's degree in elementary education at Columbia University where she met Conrad Chisholm, whom she married in 1949. Two years later she received her master's degree in early childhood education.

Over the next decade Chisholm built a reputation as an authority on early education and child welfare. She served as the director of the Friends Day Nursery, in Brownsville, New York, and, from 1953 to 1959, of the Hamilton-Madison Child Care Center, in Lower Manhattan. Taking her expertise into the public sector, she became an educational consultant in New York City's Bureau of Child Welfare from 1959 to 1964. In addition to her professional work, she participated in a variety of community and civic activities. She served on the board of directors of the Brooklyn Home for Aged Colored People and became a prominent member of the Brooklyn branch of the NationalAssociation for the Advancement of Colored People. She frequently volunteered her time for such groups as the Democratic Women's Workshop; the League of Women Voters; and the Bedford-Stuyvesant Political League, an organization formed to support black candidates. Her intense participation in local politics—marked by her forthrightness and her willingness to confront politicians with difficult questions about racial equality—made her unpopular with the predominantly white Democratic establishment in New York. But it won her the recognition and respect of her community which was about 70 percent African American and Hispanic residents.

So well-known was Chisholm in Brooklyn by 1964 that she could mount a successful campaign for a seat in the New York State Assembly despite having no support from the Democratic establishment. She stressed that "the people" had asked her to run. As an assemblywoman from 1964 to 1968, she spearheaded legislation providing for state-funded day care centers and for unemployment insurance for domestic workers. Of particular importance to her were bills that she shepherded through the Education Committee. One major accomplishment was a financial aid program known as Search for Elevation, Education and Knowledge (SEEK). Passed into law in 1965, SEEK reached out to students of color who lacked the necessary academic requirements to enter state universities by providing them with scholarships and remedial training. Other legislative successes boosted school spending limits and wiped out the practice of stripping tenure from women teachers who took maternity leave.

In 1968 Chisholm became the first African American woman to run for the U.S. Congress. In her pursuit of the Democratic nomination for the Twelfth District she bested two other African American candidates and was appointed New York's National Committee representative at the party's national convention. She later said that to win the nomination she had to beat the political machine, an entrenched bureaucracy that had never been fond of her brash style. With the nomination in hand, she faced her Republican opponent, James Farber, a liberal white male who enjoyed national prominence as a civil rights leader. Farber was expected to win, but on November 5, 1968, by a margin of more than 2-1, Chisholm staged an upset victory. The success of her antiestablishment campaign, which ran under the slogan Unbought and Unbossed, was attributed both to widespread support from women and to her ability to address Puerto Rican voters in Spanish.

From the moment she took her seat in the House of Representatives, Chisholm demonstrated the bold iconoclasm that would mark her career in Washington, D.C. With her, it would not be politics as usual. Her initial appointment to a minor subcommittee of the Agriculture Committee struck her as a waste of her talents and experience, and, despite warnings that she was endangering her career, she protested. The House Ways and Means Committee relented and she was appointed to Veterans' Affairs. In her first speech on the floor of the House she vowed to vote against all defense spending. She told lawmakers, "Our children, our jobless men, our deprived, rejected and starving fellows, our dejected citizens must come first."

Chisholm's goals as a congresswoman were twofold. First, when she took office, only 9 of the 435 House members were black, so she made herself an advocate for African Americans both in and out of her district. Second, she tried to advance the goal of racial equality. She supported programs that provided housing and education aid to cities, voted to uphold laws that would end discrimination in federally funded jobs, and promoted new antidiscrimination legislation. Abortion rights also became a focal point in her politics. As a state assemblywoman she had supported bills that would make it easier for women whose lives were endangered to have abortions, although she had opposed outright legalization of abortion. But in 1968, with a change of heart, she agreed to be honorary president of the newly formed National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws. This would have been a dangerous position for an established politician, let alone a newly elected House member.

Independence of thought was Chisholm's hallmark, however, and the following year she crossed party lines to support Republican mayor John V. Lindsay in the New York mayoral election. Her decision so outraged her own party that some members called, unsuccessfully, for her ouster from the Democratic National Committee. But Chisholm saw the need for revamping traditional politics, supporting foes if necessary, and creating new bases of power. In 1971, along with such feminist leaders as author Gloria Steinem, she helped found the National Women's Political Caucus.

Chisholm's dramatic decision to run for president in 1972 came in part through her widely publicized opposition to the Vietnam War and the policies of President Richard M. Nixon. While speaking at college campuses she was frequently asked if she would consider running. At first doubtful that an African American woman would stand a chance, she became encouraged by the growing numbers of blacks serving in elected office. Initially she received little support, even within black political circles, but following an enthusiastic tour of Florida, she announced her candidacy on January 25, 1972. During campaign stops she asked voters to replace entrenched white male leadership with a new voice: "I am your instrument of change. … give your votes to me instead of one of those warmed-over gentlemen who come to you once every four years." Criticized for running a hopeless campaign, she remained steadfast. "Some people call me a freak for running for the presidency," she said, "but I am very glad to be a freak in order to break down this domain."

Despite her popularity with women and young people, Chisholm's campaign suffered from limited finances, internal disarray, and lukewarm support from black political leaders. By July 1972, she had twenty-eight delegates, almost half of what she had hoped to bring to the Democratic National Convention. Nevertheless, she won the support of the convention's black caucus, and, in a symbolic move, Hubert H. Humphrey released his black delegates to vote for her. As a result, on the first ballot, she received 152 delegates and addressed the convention. But the number was far too small to stop candidate George S. McGovern from winning the party's nomination.

After the election the trouble that had beset her campaign continued. A 1973 report by the government's General Accounting Office recommended that the U.S. Justice Department investigate possible misconduct in handling campaign funds but a 1974 investigation found no evidence of any wrongdoing.

Following her reelection to the House in the fall of 1972, Chisholm served every two-year term until 1982. The seniority she earned over seven terms—she was the only woman on the House Rules Committee—made her effective in building coalitions among liberal politicians. In addition to supporting women's equality, she was instrumental in advancing welfare legislation designed to help poor and needy citizens. However, the onset of the Reagan era drastically changed the political landscape in Washington, D.C., as liberals were swept aside by conservative challengers. Announcing her retirement on February 10, 1982, Chisholm cited as her chief reason the defeat of liberal senators and representatives, which made it impossible for the old alliances to work.

Chisholm accepted an invitation to join the faculty at Mount Holyoke, the United States' oldest women's college, where she taught courses in political science and women's studies until 1987. At one commencement address she urged new graduates to be active citizens: "Ask questions and demand answers. Do not just tend your garden, collect your paycheck, bolt the door, and deplore what you see on television. Too many people are doing that already. Instead, you must live in the mainstream of your time and of your generation." Although she had left Washington, D.C., she remained immersed in politics. In 1985 she became the first president of the newly formed National Political Congress of Black Women, which in three years grew from five hundred to eighty-five hundred members. In 1988 she campaigned for the Reverend Jesse Jackson, who was seeking the Democratic party's presidential nomination.

Using her retirement to give speeches and commencement addresses on vital issues, Chisholm has continued to inspire the public imagination. She has advocated sex education for students beginning at the age of seven in order to combat the "national plague" of teenage pregnancy. In 1991, calling the small numbers of African American college professors a crisis in black education, she warned, "Blacks run the risk of becoming an intellectual boat people, just drifting." Opposing the Persian Gulf War in 1991, she argued that the expense of U.S. militarism blocked the goals of peace and equality. "The foundation is being laid for yet another generation of minority Americans to be denied the American dream," she cautioned. Chisholm has received many awards and honorary degrees, and is the author of two books, Unbought and Unbossed (1970) and The Good Fight (1973).

Shirley Chisholm
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 12th district
In office January 3, 1969 – January 3, 1983
Preceded by	Edna F. Kelly
Succeeded by	Major R. Owens
Born	November 30, 1924 Brooklyn, New York[1]
Died	January 1, 2005 (aged 80) Ormond Beach, Florida[2]
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	1) Conrad Chisholm (divorced) 2) Arthur Hardwick Jr. (widowed)

Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm (November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005) was an American politician, educator, and author.^[3] She was a Congresswoman, representing New York's 12th Congressional District for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. In 1968, she became the first black woman elected to Congress.^[4] On January 25, 1972, she became the first major-party black candidate for President of the United States and the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination (Margaret Chase Smith had previously run for the Republican presidential nomination).^[4] She received 152 first-ballot votes at the 1972 Democratic National Convention.^[4][5]

Contents

• 1 Early life
• 2 Career
• 3 Personal life
• 4 Retirement and death
• 5 Biographical documentary
• 6 In popular culture
• 7 Writings
• 8 Honors
• 9 See also
• 10 References
• 11 Further reading
• 12 External links

Early life

This section needs references that appear in reliable third-party publications. Primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject are generally not sufficient for a Wikipedia article. Please add more appropriate citations from reliable sources. (August 2010)

Shirley Anita St. Hill was born in Brooklyn, New York, of immigrant parents.^[1] Her father, Charles Christopher St. Hill, was born in British Guiana^[6] and arrived in the United States via Antilla, Cuba, on April 10, 1923 aboard the S.S. Munamar in New York City.^[6] Her mother, Ruby Seale, was born in Christ Church, Barbados, and arrived in New York City aboard the S.S. Pocone on March 8, 1921.^[7] At age three, Chisholm was sent to Barbados to live with her maternal grandmother, Emaline Seale, in Christ Church. She did not return until roughly seven years later when she arrived in New York City on May 19, 1934 aboard the S.S. Narissa.^[8] In her 1970 autobiography Unbought and Unbossed, she wrote: "Years later I would know what an important gift my parents had given me by seeing to it that I had my early education in the strict, traditional, British-style schools of Barbados. If I speak and write easily now, that early education is the main reason."

Chisholm is an alumna of Girls High School, she earned her BA from Brooklyn College in 1946 and later earned her MA from Columbia University in elementary education in 1952. She was a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

From 1953 to 1959, she was director of the Hamilton-Madison Child Care Center. From 1959 to 1964, she was an educational consultant for the Division of Day Care.

Career

In 1964, Chisholm ran for and was elected to the New York State Legislature. In 1968, she ran as the Democratic candidate for New York's 12th District congressional seat and was elected to the House of Representatives. Defeating Republican candidate James Farmer, Chisholm became the first black woman elected to Congress. Chisholm joined the Congressional Black Caucus in 1969 as one of its founding members.^[9]

As a freshman, Chisholm was assigned to the House Agricultural Committee. Given her urban district, she felt the placement was irrelevant to her constituents^[4] and shocked many by asking for reassignment. She was then placed on the Veterans' Affairs Committee.^[4] Soon after, she voted for Hale Boggs as House Majority Leader over John Conyers. As a reward for her support, Boggs assigned her to the much-prized Education and Labor Committee,^[10] which was her preferred committee.^[4] She was the third highest-ranking member of this committee when she retired from Congress.

All those Chisholm hired for her office were women, half of them black.^[4] Chisholm said that during her New York legislative career, she had faced much more discrimination because she was a woman than because she was black.^[4]

In the 1972 U.S. presidential election, she made a bid for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. She survived three assassination attempts during the campaign.^[11] George McGovern won the nomination in a hotly contested set of primary elections, with Chisholm campaigning in 12 states and winning 28 delegates during the primary process.^[12] At the 1972 Democratic National Convention, as a symbolic gesture, McGovern opponent Hubert H. Humphrey released his black delegates to Chisholm,^[13] giving her a total of 152 first-ballot votes for the nomination.^[4] Chisholm's base of support was ethnically diverse and included the National Organization for Women. Chisholm said she ran for the office "in spite of hopeless odds... to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo." Among the volunteers who were inspired by her campaign was Barbara Lee, who continued to be politically active and was elected as a congresswoman 25 years later. Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem attempted to run as Chisholm delegates in New York.^[4]

Chisholm created controversy when she visited rival and ideological opposite George Wallace in the hospital soon after his shooting in May 1972, during the 1972 presidential primary campaign. Several years later, when Chisholm worked on a bill to give domestic workers the right to a minimum wage, Wallace helped gain votes of enough Southern congressmen to push the legislation through the House.^[14]

From 1977 to 1981, during the 95th Congress and 96th Congress, Chisholm was elected to a position in the House Democratic leadership, as Secretary of the House Democratic Caucus.^[15]

Throughout her tenure in Congress, Chisholm worked to improve opportunities for inner-city residents. She was a vocal opponent of the draft and supported spending increases for education, health care and other social services, and reductions in military spending.

In 1970, she authored a child care bill. The bill passed the House and the Senate, but was vetoed by President Richard Nixon, who called it "the Sovietization of American children".^[16]

In the area of national security and foreign policy, Chisholm worked for the revocation of Internal Security Act of 1950.^[17] She opposed the American involvement in the Vietnam War and the expansion of weapon developments. During the Jimmy Carter administration, she called for better treatment of Haitian refugees.^[18]

Shirley Chisholm (center) with Congressman Edolphus Towns (left) and his wife, Gwen Towns (right)

Personal life

Chisholm was married to Conrad Chisholm, a Jamaican private investigator from 1949 to 1977. ^[19] In 1978, she married Arthur Hardwick Jr., a Buffalo businessman who died in 1986.^[9] Shirley had no children and came down to Florida when retired.

Retirement and death

She announced her retirement from Congress in 1982. Her seat was won by a fellow Democrat, Major Owens, in 1983.

After retirement she resumed her career in education, teaching politics and women's studies and being named to the Purington Chair at Mount Holyoke College from 1983 to 1987. In 1985 she was a visiting scholar at Spelman College. In 1984 and 1988, she campaigned for Jesse Jackson for the presidential elections. In 1993, then-President Bill Clinton nominated her to the ambassadorship to Jamaica, but she could not serve due to poor health. In the same year she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.^[20]

Chisholm retired to Florida and died on January 1, 2005 in Ormond Beach near Daytona Beach.^[2] She was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York.

Biographical documentary

In February 2005, Shirley Chisholm '72: Unbought and Unbossed, a documentary film ^[21] was aired on the U.S public television. It chronicles Chisholm's 1972 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. It was directed and produced by independent, African American filmmaker Shola Lynch. The film was featured at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004. On April 9, 2006, the film was announced as a winner of a Peabody Award.

“	When I die, I want to be remembered as a woman who lived in the twentieth century and who dared to be a catalyst for change. I don't want be remembered as the first black woman who went to Congress, and I don't even want to be remembered as the first woman who happen to be black to make a bid for the presidency. I want to be remembered as a woman who fought for change in the twentieth century. That's what I want.	”
—Shirley Chisholm[22]

In popular culture

In the lyrics of the 1988 Biz Markie song "Nobody Beats the Biz," Biz says, "Make you co-op-er-ate with the rhythm, that is what I give em/ Reagan is the pres but I voted for Shirley Chisholm"

In 1999, Redman and Method Man released a track on the album, Black out called "Maaaad Crew", which contains the lyric, "Clinton is the president I still voted for Shirley Chisholm." Later, in 2006, LL Cool J echoed this sentiment on his album Todd Smith, with the lyric "George Bush is the Prez., but I voted for Shirley Chisholm."

In the 2003 song "Spread," Andre 3000 of Outkast sang, "You're the prism / Shirley Chisholm / was the first," referencing her being the first black woman member of Congress and the first black presidential candidate for one of the major parties.

In the lyrics of the 2005 Nellie McKay song "Mama and Me," McKay says, "There's a lotta things that I'm proud of in this world / I got a pinch of Shirley Chisholm / And a sprinkle of That Girl."

Writings

Chisholm wrote two autobiographical books.

• Chisholm, Shirley (1970). Unbought and Unbossed. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 9780395109328.
  • Chisholm, Shirley (2010). Scott Simpson. ed. Unbought and Unbossed: Expanded 40th Anniversary Edition. Take Root Media. ISBN 9780980059021., Also available via the editor Scott Simpson's site.
• Chisholm, Shirley (1973). The Good Fight. Harper Collins. ISBN 9780060107642.

Honors

In 1975, Chisholm was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Smith College.

In 1993, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Shirley Chisholm on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.

See also

• Andrew W. Cooper

References

This article incorporates material from the Citizendium article "Shirley Chisholm", which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License but not under the GFDL.

1. ^ ^{a b} Brooks-Bertram, Peggy, and Barbara A. Nevergold. Uncrowned Queens, Volume 3: African American Women Community Builders of Western New York. Sunny, 2009. 146. Google Books. Web. 23 Dec. 2010. <http://books.google.com/books?id=a0r4DItlmlcC&pg=PA146&lpg=PA146&dq=Shirley+chisholm+born+queens+-wikipedia&source=bl&ots=17DztcJ4C7&sig=Kuvufe0zCbLv4s7PhxvGKZJluk0&hl=en&ei=vCcUTY2mOYGosQO1ztG5Ag&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false>.
2. ^ ^{a b} Barron, James (3 January 2005). "Shirley Chisholm, 'Unbossed' Pioneer in Congress, Is Dead at 80". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/03/obituaries/03chisholm.html. Retrieved 24 December 2010.
3. ^ PBS P.O.V. documentary. "Chisholm '72: Unbought & Unbossed"
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Freeman, Jo (February 2005). "Shirley Chisholm's 1972 Presidential Campaign". University of Illinois at Chicago Women's History Project. http://www.uic.edu/orgs/cwluherstory/jofreeman/polhistory/chisholm.htm.
5. ^ Shirley Chisholm, Our Campaigns
6. ^ ^{a b} "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line"]. United States: The Generations Network. 1923-04-10. http://www.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2008-07-20.
7. ^ "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line"]. United States: The Generations Network. 1921-03-08. http://www.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2008-07-20 compruso.
8. ^ "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line"]. United States: The Generations Network. 1934-05-19. http://www.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2008-07-20.
9. ^ ^{a b} Coralie Carlson, Pioneering Politician, Candidate Dies, Washington Post (originally Associated Press), January 3, 2005.
10. ^ USA Today obituary, January 2, 2005
11. ^ Swaby, Donn. "Shirley Chisholm: A True Revolutionary." The Huffington Post. HuffingtonPost.com Inc., 19 Feb. 2009. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/donn-swaby/shirley-chisholm-a-true-r_b_87378.html>.
12. ^ House resolution 97, Recognizing Contributions, Achievements, and Dedicated Work of Shirley Anita Chisholm, [Congressional Record: June 12, 2001 (House)] [Page H3019-H3025] From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:cr12jn01-85]
13. ^ Paul Delaney, "Humphrey Blacks to Vote For Mrs. Chisholm First", New York Times, July 11, 1972, p. 1
14. ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6779424/
15. ^ "Women Elected to Party Leadership Positions". Women in Congress. U.S. House of Representatives. Archived from the original on 2008-07-30. http://web.archive.org/web/20080730211834/http://womenincongress.house.gov/data/leadership.html. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
16. ^ NOW Honors Guts and Glory of Shirley Chisholm
17. ^ Democracy Now! radio station news
18. ^ Charles R. Babcock, "Rep. Chisholm Asks Equity For Haiti's Black Refugees", Washington Post, June 18, 1980.
19. ^ Shirley Chisholm's biography on NNDB
20. ^ National Women's Hall of Fame, Women of the Hall - Shirley Chisholm
21. ^ Chisholm '72 - Unbought & Unbossed by Shola Lynch
22. ^ Shirley Chisholm '72: Unbought and Unbossed. [documentary film]. Shola Lynch. February 2005.

Further reading

• Clack, Gary (February 27, 2008), "Shirley Chisholm broke ground before Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, http://www.seattlepi.com/opinion/352939_chisholm28.html.

External links

• Shirley Chisholm's Unbought and Unbossed book web site by editor Scot Simpson
• Shirley Chisholm's oral history video excerpts at The National Visionary Leadership Project
• Biography by Jone Johnson Lewis
• Shirley Chisholm at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Chisholm speech on the Equal Rights Amendment
• Shirley Chisholm's 1972 Presidential Campaign
• Chisholm '72 - Unbought & Unbossed documentary by Shola Lynch
• Feature on Shirley Chisholm, with writing from Gloria Steinem and video clips from Chisholm '72 Unbought & Unbossed, by the International Museum of Women.
• Shirley Chisholm at Find a Grave

New York Assembly
Preceded by Thomas Russell Jones	New York State Assembly, Kings County 17th District 1965	Succeeded by District Eliminated
Preceded by New District	New York State Assembly, 45th District 1966	Succeeded by Max Turshen
Preceded by Herbert Marker	New York State Assembly, 55th District 1967–1968	Succeeded by Thomas Fortune
United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Edna F. Kelly	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 12th congressional district 1969–1983	Succeeded by Major R. Owens
Party political offices
Preceded by Patsy Mink	Secretary of Democratic Caucus of the United States House of Representatives 1977–1981	Succeeded by Geraldine Ferraro

v · d · eUnited States presidential election, 1972
Republican Party Convention · Primaries	Nominee: Richard Nixon VP Nominee: Spiro Agnew Candidiates: John M. Ashbrook · Pete McCloskey
Democratic Party Convention · Primaries	Nominee: George McGovern VP Nominee: Sargent Shriver Candidates: Shirley Chisholm · Walter Fauntroy · Fred R. Harris · Vance Hartke · Wayne Hays · Hubert Humphrey · Henry M. Jackson · John Lindsay · Eugene McCarthy · Wilbur Mills · Patsy Mink · Edmund Muskie · Terry Sanford · George Wallace · Sam Yorty
Third party and independent candidates American Independent Party Nominee: John G. Schmitz VP Nominee: Thomas J. Anderson Communist Party USA Nominee: Gus Hall VP Nominee: Jarvis Tyner Libertarian Party Nominee: John Hospers VP Nominee: Tonie Nathan People's Party Nominee: Benjamin Spock VP Nominee: Julius Hobson Prohibition Party Nominee: E. Harold Munn Socialist Labor Party Nominee: Louis Fisher Socialist Workers Party Nominee: Linda Jenness · Alternate nominee: Evelyn Reed VP Nominee: Andrew Pulley Independent Gabriel Green
Other 1972 elections: House · Senate

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Related topics:

Related answers:

Help us answer these:

Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

Copyrights:

		Posters. Copyright © 1998-2011 AllPosters.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
		Who2 Profiles. Copyright © 1998-2011 by Who2, LLC. All rights reserved. See the Shirley Chisholm biography from Who2.  Read more
		Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2011 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
		Gale Encyclopedia of Biography. © 2006 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
		Gale Contemporary Black Biography. Contemporary Black Biography. Copyright © 2006 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
		Oxford Guide to the US Government. The Oxford Guide to the United States Government. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2002 by John J. Patrick, Richard M. Pious, Donald M. Ritchie. All rights reserved.  Read more
		Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2011, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
		US Presidents Q&A;. The Handy Presidents Answer Book. 2004 ©Visible Ink Press (handyanswers.com). All rights reserved.  Read more
		West's Encyclopedia of American Law. West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Copyright © 1998 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
		Wikipedia on Answers.com. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Shirley Chisholm.  Read more