Revisiting the Chisholm Trail

Chisholm Trail written by Dana L. Costa

If you read current political headlines, you’ll see that Democratic nominee for Vice President, Senator Kamala Harris is being touted as a trailblazer.

During the 2008 election, sometimes called the Battle of the Firsts, both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were called trailblazers.

The path to success for these two politicians -- and hundreds, if not thousands, of others -- was paved by the efforts of Shirley Chisholm.

Shirley Anita St. Hill was born in 1924 in New York City (USA) to immigrant parents who insisted that Shirley and her sisters receive a solid education. To make that happen, they sent their daughters, including 4-year-old Shirley to Barbados to live with their grandmother and go to strict British-style schools.

The time with her beloved Granny in Barbados not only provided a strong educational foundation, but also a strong sense of self. “I learned from an early age that I was somebody,” Ms. Chisholm recalled. “I didn’t need the black revolution to tell me that.”

Soon after returning to the United States, Ms. Chisholm earned a spot in the prestigious Girls’ High School in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. The neighborhood, commonly known as Bed-Stuy, would become her home and Congressional district for decades.

After graduating from Girls’ High School, Ms. Chisholm went on to study at Brooklyn College, where she completed her college education and won awards for her speaking, debating, and writing skills.

While at Brooklyn College, she was not only a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority and the Harriet Tubman Society, a group which fought for WWII troop integration, education in African American history, and women’s involvement in student government.

While her educational path was not politics, she was definitely influenced by the activism of her parents, who were involved in community support for Barbadans’ rights and civil liberties.

Ms. Chisholm’s first jobs were in her chosen field of education, and she taught nursery

school while pursuing—and ultimately comWhen Flagg decided to take a judicial appleting—her master’s degree in elementary pointment rather than run for re-election, education from Teachers College at Columbia Ms. Chisholm ran in for the seat. University in New York City. Her first step into a government role was as Chisholm easily defeated her Republican an educational consultant for New York City’s and Liberal party challengers at a margin of Division of Day Care, and grew to be known as almost 10-to-1. an authority on early education and children’s organizations and increase women’s participaAfter winning the democratic primary, Ms. welfare. Serving in the New York State Assembly from 1965-1968, Ms. Chisholm wrote and In the early 1950s, Ms. Chisholm became acadvocated for legislation to provide students tive in the efforts to with disabilities more elect Lewis Flagg, support in school and Jr. as the first black judge in Brooklyn. She worked with Wesley “ If they don’t more access to a college education, extend unemployment benefits to “Mac” Holder on the campaign and later the formation of give you a seat at domestic workers, and allow literacy tests to be administered in languagthe Bedford-Stuyvesant Political League (BSPL), which fought the table , bring a es other than English, saying, “just because a person “functions better to support civil rights, improve the economy of Brooklyn, and end race-based housing folding chair. ” in his native language is no sign a person is illiterate.” discrimination. After political redistrictWhile a clash with boundaries for New Holder over the inYork’s 12th Congressiovolvement of women in the BSPL led to a split nal District in Bed-Stuy, Ms. Chisholm ran with the organization, Ms. Chisholm’s volunfor and, in a stunning upset over the Liberteer work and activism only grew with her al candidate, won a seat in the U.S. House affiliation with the League of Women Voters, of Representatives. She was the first black the Brooklyn Democratic Clubs, National Assowoman to ever be a U.S. Representative and ciation of College Women and more. Her main the only woman in her class in the House thrust was to increase the integration of these that year. ing established new tion and leadership roles in them. Her success As is standard for all House members, Ms. in recruiting more people of color to political Chisholm was placed on a House subcomorganizations in and around Brooklyn led to mittee -- the House Agriculture Committee. increased political involvement and, ultimateGiven the district that Ms. Chisholm reprely, more people of color running for political sented, an urban area with no agricultural office. possibilities whatsoever, she was openly upset. After confiding in a friend who was also In 1962, Ms. Chisholm helped elect Thomas a rabbi, Ms. Chisholm refocused her efforts R. Jones, a colleague from her days on Lewis on expanding the food stamp program and Flagg, Jr.’s campaign team, as Brooklyn’s seccreating the Special Supplemental Nutrition ond black assemblyman to the New York State Program for Women, Infants and Children, Assembly. commonly known as WIC. She was credited

with giving poor babies and children milk and food, something of vital importance in the lower income, working class district she represented.

In later years, she was moved to a committee that she preferred, the Education and Labor Committee, and became a high-ranking member of the committee. In 1971, Ms. Chisholm became a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and the National Women’s Political Caucus, both still active today.

In early 1972, Ms. Chisholm became the first African-American representing a major political party to run for President. She was also the first woman from the Democratic Party to run for President. Presidential campaigns were different then; shorter, less mean, more about policy than personalities.

Ms. Chisholm’s campaign was woefully underfunded, especially compared to her opponents’ war chests, and she struggled to compete, especially since she stayed true to her campaign slogan: Unbought and Unbossed. She ran her campaign not as presidential campaigns had been run in the past, but in a way that was true to her beliefs. She has stated that she ran for President “in spite of hopeless odds...to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo”

Even though Ms. Chisholm rarely placed higher than 4th in any state primary contest, she continued her campaign all the way to the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami, conceding her bid after the first delegate vote and graciously supporting the eventual candidate, George McGovern (who famously lost in a landslide against Richard Nixon, who carried 49 states that year).

Serving in her congressional role until 1982, Ms. Chisholm was dedicated to improving the lives of the inner-city poor, supporting social service programs and opposing the draft and increased military spending. She was often frustrated by the treatment of women in Congress, stating that she had “faced much more discrimination during

Throughout her career she stayed true to her support of women in the workplace, including politics, by hiring only women to staff her Congressional office, at least half of them were black.

After retiring from public service in 1982 to care for her ailing husband, Ms. Chisholm stayed active in politics as a supporter of Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988 and by co-founding the National Congress of Black Women and African-American Women for Reproductive Freedom.

Ms. Chisholm died in 2005 and is buried in Buffalo, New York (USA). Inscribed on her vault: “Unbought and Unbossed.”

She garnered countless awards and honorary degrees throughout her lifetime, and will have a monument erected in her honor at the entrance of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park in the near future.

President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Ms. Chisholm the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015, the highest honor given to a civilian in the United States. In the 2002 documentary on her Presidential run, Chisholm ‘72: Unbought and Unbossed, Ms. Chisholm, prophetically stated, “When I die, I don’t want to be remembered as pattern by SweetPrairieSkies on Etsy the first black woman who went to Congress. I don’t even want to be remembered as the first woman who happened to be black to make a bid for the presidency. I want to be remembered as a woman who fought for change in the 20th century. That’s what I want.”

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Ms. Chisholm got all that and more by paving the way for today’s women and people of color who are involved in politics and advocacy -- not just those who run for office, but those lesser known people who protest, advocate, and create policy. They all owe their thanks, in part, to Ms. Shirley Chisholm.

Sources: Wikipedia.org; SmithsonianMag.com; House.gov; womenshistory.org; biography.com; Chisholm ‘72: Unbought & Unbossed

Learn more about Shirley Chisholm

Chisholm ‘72: Unbought & Unbossed (2002)

We Rise: Speeches by Inspirational Black Women (2010)

Unbought & Unbossed (Shirley Chisholm, 1970)

The Good Fight (Shirley Chisholm, 1973)

Shirley Chisholm: Catalyst for Change (Barbara Winslow, 2013)

Young, Gifted, and Black: Meet 52 Black Heroes from Past and Present (Jamia Wilson, 2018)