Shirley Chisholm Paved the Way to the Present Historical Election
by Change didn’t happen overnight. The seeds of it were sown years ago with a courageous woman who ran for President. She got far enough to get noticed.
These are historic times. We hear this repeated everywhere. A black man running for the Presidency appears certain at this writing to get the nomination by the Democratic Party. But the beginnings of this historic happening occurred more than 30 years ago when a black woman announced her candidacy for President of the United States. Shirley Chisholm in 1972 paved the way for today’s events.
Chisholm was born in Brooklyn, New York of parents from the West Indies. She was educated in British schools in the West Indies and in the mid 1930’s returned to New York where she attended high school. Later she enrolled in Brooklyn College where she finished her Bachelors degree with honors in 1964.
It wasn’t easy in those days for a black, educated woman to find good employment, especially at the level of higher education. Shirley began her career as a daycare teacher and married a man from the West Indies, Conrad Chisholm, who worked beside her during her various involvements in campaigns to increase black and Hispanic voting. That same year she graduated from college, Chisholm ran for the state assembly of New York and was elected. She served in the New York General assembly for the next four years. She followed this with a candidacy for the 12th Congressional District of New York to which she was elected as Representative in 1968.
Chisholm became known for her civil rights activism after she was elected to the US Congress. She was active not only in civil rights for black people but also for the poor, the oppressed and for women. The National Organization for Women utilized her talents as a speaker, and Chisholm became an outspoken advocate for women’s rights.
Like Barack Obama, Chisholm spoke well and noted her belief in being a candidate for all the people. When she made her declaration in 1972, she said:
“I stand before you today as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency of the United States. I am not the candidate of black America, although I am black and proud. I am not the candidate of the women’s movement of this country, although I am a woman, and I am equally proud of that. I am not the candidate of any political bosses or special interests. I am the candidate of the people.”
Even though Chisholm did not win the nomination for President in 1972 she recived 151 delegate votes. The convention that year was the first time a woman had been a contender for the Presidency. Chisholm made her declaration and went on with her work in the US Congress until 1982, when she retired from politics. Shirley Chisholm died on January 1, 2005 never knowing what dramatic effect she had on American history that has resulted in two fine candidates, a woman and a black man, standing before America as strong and proud as Shirley Chisholm once stood, proclaiming their real abilities to hold the office of President of the United States..
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