History is full of badass women who have dared to challenge the status quo, and yet we’re often not taught about them. Women’s History Month is a great time to learn about these women who have made just as much of a difference as their male contemporaries, but were for some reason (read: misogyny) not deemed important enough for our teachers to spend an extra few minutes on. I think that this does young girls, especially those of minority groups, a disservice, because it isn’t as easy for them to find a role model that looks like they do.
Shirley Chisholm was the first black woman to be elected to Congress as well as the first black candidate for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Chisholm came from a lower class family, but moved in with her grandparents in order to get an education. She graduated from Brooklyn College in 1946. She had won prizes for her debating skills during her time in college and was encouraged by her professors to seek a career in politics. She went on to get her master’s from Columbia University in Early Childhood Education.
Chisholm’s education served as a basis for her political career, which was budding by 1960. She was a consultant to the New York City Division of Day Care, having become an authority on childhood education. She became involved with the League of Women Voters, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and her local Democratic Party club. Prior to her time running for Congress, Chisholm worked to obtain unemployment benefits for domestic workers as well as for a program that helped disadvantaged students get a college education.
In 1968, Chisholm fought her way into Congress with the campaign slogan “Unbought and unbossed.” Here, she continued her fight for gender, racial, and class equality. The odds were stacked against her during her campaign for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in 1972. She was often not taken seriously by both her opponents and her allies, regardless of race. “They think I am trying to take power from them. The black man must step forward, but that doesn’t mean the black woman must step back,” she said. Chisholm obtained 10% of the total vote despite the odds.
That Shirley Chisholm died only recently in January 2005 is evidence that her hard fight for equality is not over. On the subject of her legacy, Chisholm said, “I want history to remember me…not as the first black woman to have made a bid for the presidency of the United States, but as a black woman who lived in the 20th century and who dared to be herself. I want to be remembered as a catalyst for change in America.”