Shirley Chisholm

Brooklyn educator who in 1968 became the first Black woman in Congress.

Overview

A nursery school teacher and state legislator, Chisholm won a redrawn Brooklyn district in 1968 under the slogan Unbought and Unbossed. In the House from 1969 to 1983 she fought for food stamp expansion and a minimum income, opposed the Vietnam War, co-founded the Congressional Black Caucus and the National Women's Political Caucus, and in 1972 became the first Black presidential candidate of a major party, winning 151 delegates. Her 1972 campaign is honored as a founding moment of both Black and women's national politics.