Shirley Chisholm Runs For President, 1972: A Groundbreaking Legacy
- History. Jan 25, 2022. Learn more about Shirley Chisholm and her long-lasting impact on politics on the 50th anniversary of her run for the presidency.
- Shirley Chisholm, 1924-2005. By Debra Michals, PhD | 2015. Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was the first African American woman in Congress (1968) and the first woman and African American to seek the nomination for president of the United States from one of the two major political parties (1972). Her motto and title of her autobiography—Unbought and Unbossed—illustrates her outspoken advocacy for women and minorities during her seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 30, 1924, Chisholm was the oldest of four daughters to immigrant parents Charles St. Hill, a factory worker from Guyana, and Ruby Seale St. Hill, a seamstress from Barbados. She graduated from Brooklyn Girls’ High in 1942 and from Brooklyn College cum laude in 1946, where she won prizes on the debate team. Although professors encouraged her to consider a political career, she replied that she faced a “double handicap” as both Black and female.
Initially, Chisholm worked as a nursery school teacher. In 1949, she married Conrad Q. Chisholm, a private investigator (they divorced in 1977). She earned a master’s degree from Columbia University in early childhood education in 1951. By 1960, she was a consultant to the New York City Division of Day Care. Ever aware of racial and gender inequality, she joined local chapters of the League of Women Voters, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Urban League, as well as the Democratic Party club in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
In 1964, Chisholm ran for and became the second African American in the New York State Legislature. After court-ordered redistricting created a new, heavily Democratic, district in her neighborhood, in 1968 Chisholm sought—and won—a seat in Congress. There, “Fighting Shirley” introduced more than 50 pieces of legislation and championed racial and gender equality, the plight of the poor, and ending the Vietnam War. She was a co-founder of the National Women's Political Caucus in 1971, and in 1977 became the first Black woman and second woman ever to serve on the powerful House Rules Committee. That year she married Arthur Hardwick Jr., a New York State legislator...
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/shirley-chisholm
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What a Dynamic Duo they were.
As a very young man, he was part of a welcoming committee for a visiting group of legislators from downstate New York to our city of Saratoga Springs. He was paired with this little black lady, was asked to accompany her and show her around. He initially knew nothing about her, but he soon learned that she was not only smart and knowledgeable, but that she was witty and had a sense of humor, too - something that my Dad could identify with. 
So after that encounter, he became a lifelong admirer. Whenever her name came up, he'd always smile and recount his experiences with her from that day. So I always remember her and learned to become a admirer, too. And she certainly made history... 
to experience her rise, a great woman and American.
She was smart, funny - and quite a groundbreaker! 
