I don’t measure America by its achievement but by its potential.
The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says: It’s a girl.
“…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 in her autobiography Unbought and Unbossed.]
Shirley Chisholm, Congresswoman from New York, looking at list of numbers posted on a wall (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Chisholm is seated in Orange. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
After initially being assigned to the House Forestry Committee, she shocked many by demanding reassignment. She was placed on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, eventually graduating to the Education and Labor Committee. She became one of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1969. [Biography.com]
In 1972 Chisholm entered the US presidential race as a candidate for the Democratic Party. She ran in 12 primaries and won three (Louisiana, Mississippi and New Jersey, garnering 152 delegates from an ethnically diverse base that spanned social economic backgrounds and the gender divide. She was an advocate for “minority education and employment opportunities, (and) also a vocal opponent of the draft.” [Ibid] She said she ran “in spite of hopeless odds… to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo.” She was the…
- First African-American woman to seek a major party nomination for President of the United States (1972)
- First woman to have her name placed in nomination for President at the Democratic National Convention
- First African-American to be on the ballot as a candidate for President [About.com]
Gwendolyn Sawyer Cherry and Shirley Chisholm at the Democratic National Convention: Miami Beach, Florida (Photo credit: State Library and Archives of Florida)
Although she lost the nomination to George McGovern (who lost the election to incumbant Richard Nixon), Chisholm “had brought the voice of the disenfranchised to the forefront.” [Ibid]
Congressman Edlophus Towns (left) and his wife, Gwen Towns (right) pose with former Congresswoman and Brooklyn native, Shirley Chisholm (center) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
ritaLOVEStoWRITE 
November 3rd, 2012 at 5:39 pm
this was a blast from my past. Thank you.