AUDIOBOOK
About
When Shirley Chisholm was asked why she would dare run for president, her response was, why not her?
Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm rose from being the child of immigrants to the United States to running for the
highest office in the land. Her achievement in doing this as a Black woman was not in spite of her background
but rather because of it. She became both the first African American woman elected to the US Congress and
the first female African American of a major political party to make a serious run for president of the United
States.
She persevered by being steadfast in her political convictions and unwillingness to compromise on the issues
she believed in. Chisholm directly challenged the political establishment and was successful because she
galvanized women, minorities, young people, and the poor not only in her home district in Brooklyn, New York,
but across the country.
She was that catalyst for change who gave a political voice to so many segments of society who were, up until
that time, ignored: women, minorities, the young, members of the gay community, domestic and agricultural
workers, and the poor. Her run for the presidency in 1972 was a win in terms of her forging a unified grassroots
campaign in which the voices of the previously voiceless joined together for a single cause of voting for someone
who supported their diverse but collective interests.
As many historians have pointed out, without Shirley Chisholm there may not have been a Hillary Clinton,
Barack Obama, or Kamala Harris.
Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm rose from being the child of immigrants to the United States to running for the
highest office in the land. Her achievement in doing this as a Black woman was not in spite of her background
but rather because of it. She became both the first African American woman elected to the US Congress and
the first female African American of a major political party to make a serious run for president of the United
States.
She persevered by being steadfast in her political convictions and unwillingness to compromise on the issues
she believed in. Chisholm directly challenged the political establishment and was successful because she
galvanized women, minorities, young people, and the poor not only in her home district in Brooklyn, New York,
but across the country.
She was that catalyst for change who gave a political voice to so many segments of society who were, up until
that time, ignored: women, minorities, the young, members of the gay community, domestic and agricultural
workers, and the poor. Her run for the presidency in 1972 was a win in terms of her forging a unified grassroots
campaign in which the voices of the previously voiceless joined together for a single cause of voting for someone
who supported their diverse but collective interests.
As many historians have pointed out, without Shirley Chisholm there may not have been a Hillary Clinton,
Barack Obama, or Kamala Harris.