Shirley Chisholm

Shirley Chisholm announcing her presidency in 1972.

             Before Hillary Clinton famously ran in the last election, there was another woman that famously ran for president in 1972. Unfortunately, she lost in the primaries to what led to the election of Richard Nixon. But throughout her life she achieved many great accomplishments (and firsts). But what struggles did she face and what exactly did she accomplish?

            Shirley Chisholm was born on November 30th, 1924 in Brooklyn, New York to her father, Charles Christopher St. Hill and her mother, Ruby Seale. They lived with her grandmother who she later said gave her, “strength, dignity, and love…” and that she “learned from an early age [from her ‘Granny’] that I [she] was somebody…” and that she  “didn't need the black revolution to tell” her that.

In 1952 she received her Masters Degree in elementary education at Columbia University, while completing her degree she began to teach nursery school. She then worked herself up to running a daycare, the experience that she received here eventually led her to pursue politics.

She started her political career as a state legislator. She was a democratic member for three years. She did many things such as sponsoring the SEEK program in New York. The SEEK program states that it is “a program designed to meet the needs of students who are considered to be economically disadvantaged and academically underprepared.”  Later in 1968, she won the position of Democratic Committeewoman.

Later that year, she ran for the House of Representatives. This led to her being known as Brooklyn’s first African American person in congress. Every person that she hired to work for her happened to be a woman, with half of them being African American; something that was very uncommon in the 70’s, as it was a time where woman were fighting hard for equal rights.

Chisholm's Campaign Poster

In 1972, she announced that she was running for president. This made her the first ever black candidate, while also becoming the first ever woman to run in the democratic party (Margaret Smith ran in the republican party 1964).

Unfortunately, her presidency campaign didn’t go very far. She noted that one of the reasons was that she was being discriminated against for being a woman. She later reflected on this saying, “…when I ran for president, I met more discrimination as a woman than for being black. Men are men.”  She also stated that she never expected to win, stating that “although some see my candidacy as an alternate and others as symbolic…” that it was, “a necessary catalyst for change."

In the end, she ended up with 430,703 votes in the primary. Which is sadly only 2.7 percent. She later stated that “in spite of hopeless odds ... to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo”.

Chisholm then spent more time in the congress until becoming the chair at Mount Holyoke College, teaching sociology and politics. She sadly passed away on January 1^st, 2005, after suffering multiple strokes. To this day, Chisholm is still being honored. In November 2015, Former President Barack Obama posthumously awarded her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Works Cited

Barron, James. Shirly Chisholm, 'Unbossed' Pioneer in Congress, Is Dead at 80. 3 Jan 2005. Feb 2017.

Hauser, Susan. The Women's Movement in the '70s, Today: 'You've Come a Long Way', But... 5 2012. 2 2017.

Lesher, Stephan. The Short, Unhappy Life Of Black Presidental Politics, 1972. 25 06 1972. 2 2017.

The City College of New York. SEEK Program. 2 2017.

Thomas J. O'Halloran. "Shirley Chisholm.jpg." Wikipedia.

Seattle City Council. "Shirley Chisholm Campaign Poster." 26 1 2016.

Shirley Chisholm, first black woman elected to Congress, dies. 3 1 2005. 2 2017.

Shirley Chisholm: Declares Presidental Bid. NYCDeptofRecords. 2015.

The Afro-American. "Shirley Chisholm to Speak at Hunter." 6 2 1971. Google News. 2 2017.