Shirley Chisholm

I was given the topic of Shirley Chisholm to teach the class about with my project group, and here's what I learned about this incredible lady. 

Shirley Chisholm was born on November 30th, 1924. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, but she spent several of her childhood years in Barbados on a farm with her grandparents. While being there, she received an education with more of a British influence. Her parents were very hard workers, especially with this time period being the time of the Great Depression. Her father was a factory worker and her mom was a seamstress. She eventually moved back to Brooklyn and joined her parents. In Brooklyn, she attended many public school and graduated with very high grades, she was very intelligent. She then went to Brooklyn College where she graduated with a Bachelors degree in sociology. She also taught at a daycare and became a director of another daycare center. In 1949, Shirley married an investigator by the name of Conrad Chisholm and they stayed together for many years. 

Eventually in 1964, Shirley Chisholm was elected to be a part of the New York Legislature as a democratic figure. This was a very big deal to her being an African American and being a woman. She became the second African American woman to ever serve in the New York Legislature in Albany. Throughout her years as a politician, many competitions formed between other political figures who were also African American like William C. Thompson and Thomas R. Jones, and she beat both of them. Later, in 1969, Shirley became the first black congresswoman and then served in congress for seven terms. She was on the education committee and she later moves to the rules committee. 

In 1968, Shirley Chisholm ran for president against our former president, Richard Nixon. Her motto for her campaign was, "unbought and unbossed". This motto was to stand against racists and misogynists in the that time period. Throughout her campaign she powerfully stressed the problems with racism between both races. In fact, one of her famous quotes relates to this: "...When you have black racists and white racists it is very difficult to build bridges between communities." I believe this quote can be found true through many decades of American history, because slavery paved a path for segregation in our "united" country. As we know, she did not win that election, but this did not stop her from keeping up her powerful political voice. Until later in 1983, she left congress completely. She then went to teaching at at a small college called Mt. Holyoke College. I thought a very fun fact about her was that the president at the time, Bill Clinton, nominated her to be his Ambassador of Jamaica, but she actually denied his nomination because of her old age and her health issues at the time. 

The legacy of Shirley Chisholm influenced many people. It impacted the lives of many African Americans and women who had been oppressed prior to this election.