Shirley Chisholm (nee St. Hill) was born in in New York City on November 24, 1923, and died in Ormond Beach, Florida on January 1, 2005, after several strokes. She was 80 years old.
Chisholm was the first Black woman elected to Congress, and the first Black woman in a major political party to stand for the nomination of President of the United States. She began her political career in the New York State Assembly (1965-1968) and then represented New York's 12th District (Brooklyn) in the US House of Representatives (1969-1983).
Born to immigrant parents in New York City, she excelled at Girls High School in Bedford–Stuyvesant, earned her B.A. at Brooklyn College, and her MA at Columbia's Teachers College. During her career as an educator, she became active in local Democratic Party politics.
She mounted successful campaigns to the New York State Assembly and then the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1972, during her tenure as a member of Congress, she declared her candidacy for the the Democratic nomination for President, making her the first Black person to stand for the office, and the first woman to stand for the nomination in the Democratic Party.
On the first ballot at the Convention, she received 152 votes, placing her fourth in the running for the nomination. The nomination was decided for George McGovern who went on to lose to incumbent Richard Nixon. Filmmaker Peter Lilienthal made the documentary "Shirley Chisholm for President" during the campaign.
In 2005, a documentary about her presidential campaign was released. Watch "Shirley Chisholm '72: Unbought and Unbossed." it will probably be on some television network this month. The title is from her her 1970 book "Unbought and Unbossed."
From 1977-1981 she assumed a significant leadership role in the party as Secretary of the House Democratic Caucus.
After leaving politics, she returned to education and followed the path of W. H. Auden and Bertrand Russell as Purington Chair at Mr. Holyoke College in Massachusetts, a highly-esteemed position at the oldest of the Seven Sisters schools. She was a co-founder and the first Chair of the National Congress of Black Women.
After her retirement to Florida in 1991, President Bill Clinton nominated her as the US Ambassador to Jamaica, but her age and poor health ultimately led to the nomination being withdrawn.
President Barack Obama posthumously awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.
Her burial vault is inscribed with the words "Unbought and Unbossed."
New York City's Shirley Chisholm State Park was opened on Jamaica Bay in 2019. I have not been there, but drive by it often.
Shirley Chisholm was one of the most important political figures of the 1960s and 1970s, changed the world, and is truly an American hero.
Watch a video of Chisholm declaring her bid for the presidency: https://youtu.be/y3JCX3WxBik
#BlackHistoryMonth #BlackLivesMatter #WorkForChange
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