Posted on 03/01/2008 9:46:09 AM PST by COUNTrecount
SAN ANTONIO -- History is always in a hurry to see and do things that have never before been seen and done. But even in its insatiable quest for uncharted territory, history understands the importance of looking back and preserving the memory and accomplishments of those who gave it momentum.
This fall, for the first time in the American saga, either an African-American or a woman will be on the ballot as one of the two major-party nominees for president. Even the loser of the race for the Democratic nomination between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will have broken new ground and earned a page or two in history books.
But before Hillary and Barack in 2008, there was Shirley in 1972.
Thirty-six years ago, U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm became the first woman and the first black person to seek a major party's presidential nomination.
When she made her announcement on Jan. 25, 1972, she was already a historic figure by virtue of her 1968 election to the House, representing Brooklyn's 12th Congressional District. It was an election that made her the first black woman elected to Congress.
Her campaign slogan, and the title of her first book, was "Unbought and Unbossed," and her sense of who she was became evident when, after being sworn in, she told The Washington Post, "I am an historical person at this point, and I'm very much aware of it."
Chisholm also wasted little time in displaying her outspokenness and fearlessness when she challenged the House's seniority system after being placed on the Agriculture Committee, a slot that did little for her urban district. She demanded reassignment and was given a seat on the Veteran Affairs Committee.
The daughter of a father from what was then British Guiana and a mother from Barbados, Chisholm's pride in her gender and ethnicity were evident as she became one of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus and the National Organization for Women.
Her independence was reflected in her support of a white congressman, Hale Boggs, for majority leader over John Conyers, who was black.
Chisholm's decision to run for president wasn't met with the celebratory enthusiasm that has showered the campaigns of Clinton and Obama. Shunned by the political establishment, including most of her black male colleagues, Chisholm embarked on a heroic and idealistic campaign of inclusion that showcased her intellect, passion, wit and considerable oratorical skills.
George McGovern won the nomination, but Chisholm went on to the Democratic National Convention in Miami, winning 152 delegates.
Chisholm was an unabashed liberal who advocated for the rights of women and people of color and was a fierce opponent of the Vietnam War. But the essence of her character was revealed when one of her opponents for the Democratic nomination, race-baiting Alabama Gov. George Wallace, was the victim of an assassination attempt in Maryland, an attack that would leave him paralyzed from the waist down.
Chisholm visited him in the hospital and was criticized in the black community. She says that when Wallace saw her, he asked, "What are your people going to say?" Her answer to him was, "I know what they're going to say. But I wouldn't want what happened to you to happen to anyone." Wallace cried.
In her book "The Good Fight," Chisholm explained why she ran for president. "I ran for the presidency, despite hopeless odds, to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo," she wrote. "The next time a woman runs, or a black, a Jew or anyone from a group that the country is 'not ready' to elect to its highest office, I believe that he or she will be taken seriously from the start."
Chisholm died on New Year's Day 2005 at the age of 80. That year, filmmaker Shola Lynch released a remarkable documentary on her campaign called "Chisholm 72: Unbought and Unbossed." In it, Chisholm says she didn't want to be remembered only for being the first black congresswoman or the first woman and black to seek a major party's presidential nomination.
She said, "I want to be remembered as a woman who fought for change in the 20th century. That's what I want."
Shirley, you got it.
So which of the current Dem candidates will lay claim to Shirley Chisholm’s legacy first? OR are they scared to?
I remember when Chisholm visited Wallace. My estimation of her went up several notches.
Must really frost the liberals to know the evil intolerant Republicans had blacks and women running for President before they did.
I thought her lisp was sexy!
Is that a real button? My, how things haven’t changed!
Steve Murray of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution says, “If you spliced the genes of Hillary Clinton, Madonna, Heidi Fleiss and Margaret Thatcher, you might have someone like Victoria Woodhull.”
http://www.victoriawoodhull.org/
Her (Woodhull’s)opposition to abortion is frequently cited by opponents of abortion when writing about first wave feminism. The most common Woodhull quotations cited by opponents of abortion are:
“[t]he rights of children as individuals begin while yet they remain the foetus”. [From an 1870 Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly article]
“Every woman knows that if she were free, she would never bear an unwished-for child, nor think of murdering one before its birth.” [From an 1875 edition of the Wheeling, West Virginia Evening Standard]
For my money, the real deal was Moms.
Moms Mabley!!
What was the name of the group back that use to sing with her, or about her? They sang, “Nuts, hot nuts, you get em from the peanut man.”
I thought it was her husband that was the crook that got them both in trouble. I might be wrong about that, but it seemed to me that she was involved in a scandal only tangentially.
No, I think it was her. Something to do about missing campaign funds she may have taken.
Yep. The MSM never can seem to remember that Elizabeth Dole also ran for President before Hillary.
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