Shirley Chisholm

Shirley Chisholm

Shirley Anita Chisholm (1924-2005) was an American political figure who served in the House of Representatives from 1969 to 1983, representing New York. She was the first African-American woman to serve as a congressman in the United States. Chisholm was a member of the Democratic Party. She unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination for presidency in 1972. During her colorful and controversial career, Chisholm was renowned for her political liberalism and her advocacy of rights and equality for the underprivileged people, such as African-Americans, the poverty-stricken, and women.

Early life and career

Shirley Chisholm was born in 1924 in Brooklyn, New York. She obtained early education in Barbados, her parents' homeland, and later attended New York public schools. She obtained her bachelor's degree at Brooklyn College and master's degree at Columbia University. She taught at a nursery school and later became the director of Hamilton-Madison Child Care Center in New York City. During her career in education she advocated for decentralization of policies on schools. She served in the New York state legislature from 1964 until her election to the U.S. Congress in 1968.

Congressional career

Chisholm ran for Congress in 1968 as a Democrat with the slogan "unbought and unbossed", against the civil rights leader James Farmer. She won the election and was re-elected six times. In Congress, she was known for her outspokenness and uncompromising style. She focused on issues such as poverty, civil rights, and women's rights. She was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus. 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". She supported the Equal Rights Amendment and legalized abortion, without regard to the unborn lives. She also opposed the American involvement in the Vietnam War.

Presidential bid

She entered the bid for Democratic nomination for the presidency in 1972 election, becoming the first African-American woman to do so. However, she only won 152 votes from the delegates in the Democratic convention and the nomination ultimately went to George McGovern, who lost to the then-President Richard Nixon in the general election.

Later life

Chisholm did not run for re-election in 1982, and retired from Congress. From 1983 to 1987 she taught politics and women's studies at Mount Holyoke College. 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. She died in Florida in 2005.

She had married twice in her life. Her first husband, Conrad Q. Chisholm, a Jamaican private investigator, whom she married in 1949, divorced her in 1977. She married Arthur Hardwick, Jr. in 1978. Hardwick died in 1986.

=General references

• Congressional Biographical Directory
• FamilyEducation
• DemocracyNow
• Associated Content biography
• NOW Honors Guts and Glory of Shirley Chisholm
• Department of State
• NNDB
• African-Americans
• Crystal Reference Encyclopedia
• Britannica's Guide to Women's History
• Gale Black History

Further reading

• Chisholm, Shirley, Unbought and Unbossed, ISBN 0395109329
• Hicks, Nancy, The Honorable Shirley Chisholm, Congresswoman from Brooklyn, ISBN 087460236X