CHISHOLM, SHIRLEY ANITA ST. HILL

CHISHOLM, SHIRLEY ANITA ST. HILL

A distinguished congresswoman, scholar, and African American spokeswoman, Shirley Chisholm was the first black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. A dynamic public speaker who boldly challenged traditional politics, “Fighting Shirley Chisholm,” as she called herself during her first congressional
campaign, championed liberal legislation from her seat in the House beginning with her inauguration in 1968 and continuing until her retirement in 1982. Admirers and foes alike dubbed her the “Pepperpot” because of her fondness for saying, “I breathe fire.” Known for her wit, dedication, and compassion, she remains a fierce and eloquent voice on national matters.

Chisholm was born Shirley Anita St. Hill on
November 30, 1924, in the impoverished Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. Her father, an emigrant from Guyana, worked as an unskilled laborer, and her mother, a native of Barbados, was a seamstress and a domestic worker. Extraordinary circumstances separated Chisholm from her parents for much of her early childhood. Struggling to save money for a house and for their children’s education, the St. Hills sent their four daughters to live on the farm of a grandmother in Barbados. From the age of three to the age of 11, Chisholm received a British elementary school education and acquired a West Indian rhythm of speech. An important influence on her early life, her grandmother instilled in her the values of pride, courage, and faith. Her parents took her back to Brooklyn at the age of 11.

Graduating with an excellent academic record from a Brooklyn girls’ high school, Chisholm earned a scholarship to study sociology at Brooklyn College. She quickly became active in political circles, joining the Harriet Tubman Society, serving as an Urban League volunteer, and winning prizes in debate. Her interest in her community led her to attend city meetings, where, as a student, she astonished older adults by confronting civic leaders with questions about the quality of government services to her predominantly black neighborhood. While beginning to establish her profile in her community, she also impressed her professors with a powerful speaking style and was encouraged to enter politics. She received her sociology degree with honors in 1946. While working in a nursery school she studied for a master’s degree in elementary education at Columbia University where she met Conrad Chisholm, whom she married in 1949. Two years later she received her master’s degree in early childhood education.

Over the next decade Chisholm built a reputation
as an authority on early education and
child welfare. She served as the director of the
Friends Day Nursery, in Brownsville, New York,
and, from 1953 to 1959, of the Hamilton-Madison
Child Care Center, in Lower Manhattan.
Taking her expertise into the public sector, she
became an educational consultant in New York
City’s Bureau of Child Welfare from 1959 to
1964. In addition to her professional work, she
participated in a variety of community and civic
activities. She served on the board of directors of
the Brooklyn Home for Aged Colored People
and became a prominent member of the Brooklyn
branch of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She
frequently volunteered her time for such groups
as the Democratic Women’s Workshop; the
League of Women Voters; and the Bedford-
Stuyvesant Political League, an organization
formed to support black candidates. Her intense
participation in local politics—marked by her
forthrightness and her willingness to confront
politicians with difficult questions about racial
equality—made her unpopular with the predominantly
white Democratic establishment in
New York. But it won her the recognition and
respect of her community which was about 70
percent African American and Hispanic residents.
So well known was Chisholm in Brooklyn by
1964 that she could mount a successful campaign
for a seat in the New York State Assembly
despite having no support from the Democratic
establishment. She stressed that “the people” had
asked her to run. As an assemblywoman from
1964 to 1968, she spearheaded legislation providing
for state-funded day care centers and for
unemployment insurance for domestic workers.
Of particular importance to her were bills that
she shepherded through the Education Committee.
One major accomplishment was a financial
aid program known as Search for Elevation,
Education and Knowledge (SEEK). Passed into
law in 1965, SEEK reached out to students of
color who lacked the necessary academic
requirements to enter state universities by providing
them with scholarships and remedial
training. Other legislative successes boosted
school spending limits and wiped out the practice
of stripping tenure from women teachers
who took maternity leave.
In 1968, Chisholm became the first African
American woman to run for the U.S. Congress.
In her pursuit of the Democratic nomination
for the Twelfth District she bested two other
African American candidates and was appointed
New York’s National Committee representative
at the party’s national convention. She later said
that to win the nomination she had to beat the
political machine, an entrenched bureaucracy
that had never been fond of her brash style.With
the nomination in hand, she faced her Republican opponent, James Farber, a liberal white male
who enjoyed national prominence as a CIVIL
RIGHTS leader. Farber was expected to win, but
on November 5, 1968, by a margin of more than
2–1, Chisholm staged an upset victory. The success
of her antiestablishment campaign, which
ran under the slogan “Unbought and
Unbossed,” was attributed both to widespread
support from women and to her ability to
address Puerto Rican voters in Spanish.
From the moment she took her seat in the
House of Representatives, Chisholm demonstrated
the bold iconoclasm that would mark
her career in Washington, D.C. With her, it
would not be politics as usual. Her initial
appointment to a minor subcommittee of the
Agriculture Committee struck her as a waste of
her talents and experience, and, despite warnings
that she was endangering her career, she
protested. The House Ways and Means Committee
relented and she was appointed to Veterans’
Affairs. In her first speech on the floor of the
House she vowed to vote against all defense
spending. She told lawmakers, “Our children,
our jobless men, our deprived, rejected and
starving fellows, our dejected citizens must
come first.” In May of 1969 she gave a speech to
the House of Representatives in which she introduced
the EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT and
pointed out that the bill had been introduced
before every Congress for the previous 40 years.
To those who argued that women were already
protected under the law, she pointed out that
existing laws were inadequate and that the
majority of women were concentrated in lowerpaying
menial jobs. “If women are already
equal”, she asked. “Why is it such an event whenever
one gets elected to Congress?”
Chisholm’s goals as a congresswoman were
twofold. First, when she took office, only nine of
the 435 House members were black, so she made
herself an advocate for African Americans both
in and out of her district. Second, she tried to
advance the goal of racial equality. She supported
programs that provided housing and
education aid to cities, voted to uphold laws that
would end discrimination in federally funded
jobs, and promoted new antidiscrimination legislation.
ABORTION rights also became a focal
point in her politics. As a state assemblywoman
she had supported bills that would make it easier
for women whose lives were endangered to
have abortions, although she had opposed outright
legalization of abortion. But in 1968, with
a change of heart, she agreed to be honorary
president of the newly formed National Association
for the Repeal of Abortion Laws. This
would have been a dangerous position for an
established politician, let alone a newly elected
House member.
Independence of thought was Chisholm’s
hallmark, however, and the following year she
crossed party lines to support Republican mayor
John V. Lindsay in the New York mayoral election.
Her decision so outraged her own party
that some members called, unsuccessfully, for
her ouster from the Democratic National Committee.
But Chisholm saw the need for revamping
traditional politics, supporting foes if
necessary, and creating new bases of power. In
1971, along with such feminist leaders as author
GLORIA STEINEM, she helped found the National
Women’s Political Caucus.
Chisholm’s dramatic decision to run for
president in 1972 came in part through her
widely publicized opposition to the VIETNAM WAR and the policies of President RICHARD M.
NIXON. While speaking at college campuses she
was frequently asked if she would consider running.
At first doubtful that an African American
woman would stand a chance, she became
encouraged by the growing numbers of blacks
serving in elected office. Initially she received little
support, even within black political circles,
but following an enthusiastic tour of Florida,
she announced her candidacy on January 25,
1972. During campaign stops she asked voters to
replace entrenched white male leadership with a
new voice: “I am your instrument of change. . . .
give your votes to me instead of one of those
warmed-over gentlemen who come to you once
every four years.” Criticized for running a hopeless
campaign, she remained steadfast. “Some
people call me a freak for running for the presidency,”
she said, “but I am very glad to be a freak
in order to break down this domain.”
Despite her popularity with women and
young people, Chisholm’s campaign suffered
from limited finances, internal disarray, and
lukewarm support from black political leaders.
By July 1972, she had 28 delegates, almost half of
what she had hoped to bring to the Democratic
National Convention. Nevertheless, she won the
support of the convention’s black caucus, and, in
a symbolic move, HUBERT H. HUMPHREY
released his black delegates to vote for her. As a
result, on the first ballot, she received 152 delegates
and addressed the convention. But the
number was far too small to stop candidate
George S. McGovern from winning the party’s
nomination.
After the election the trouble that had beset
her campaign continued. A 1973 report by the
government’s GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE
recommended that the U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
investigate possible misconduct in handling
campaign funds but a 1974 investigation
found no evidence of any wrongdoing.
Following her reelection to the House in the
fall of 1972, Chisholm served every two-year
term until 1982. The seniority she earned over
seven terms—she was the only woman on the
House Rules Committee—made her effective in
building coalitions among liberal politicians. In
addition to supporting women’s equality, she
was instrumental in advancing welfare legislation
designed to help poor and needy citizens.
However, the onset of the Reagan era drastically
changed the political landscape in Washington,
D.C., as liberals were swept aside by conservative
challengers. Announcing her retirement on February
10, 1982, Chisholm cited as her chief reason
the defeat of liberal senators and
representatives, which made it impossible for
the old alliances to work.
Chisholm accepted an invitation to join the
faculty at Mount Holyoke, the United States’
oldest women’s college, where she taught
courses in political science and women’s studies
until 1987. She was also a visiting professor at
Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. At one
commencement address she urged new graduates
to be active citizens: “Ask questions and
demand answers. Do not just tend your garden,
collect your paycheck, bolt the door, and deplore
what you see on television. Too many people are
doing that already. Instead, you must live in the
mainstream of your time and of your generation.”
Although she had left Washington, D.C.,
she remained immersed in politics. In 1985, she
became the first president of the newly formed
National Political Congress of Black Women,
which in three years grew from five hundred to
8,500 members. In 1988, she campaigned for the
Reverend JESSE JACKSON, who was seeking the
Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.
Using her retirement to give speeches and
commencement addresses on vital issues,
Chisholm has continued to inspire the public
imagination. She has advocated sex education
for students beginning at the age of seven in
order to combat the “national plague” of teenage
pregnancy. In 1991, calling the small numbers of
African American college professors a crisis in
black education, she warned, “Blacks run the
risk of becoming an intellectual boat people, just
drifting.” Opposing the Persian Gulf War in
1991, she argued that the expense of U.S. militarism
blocked the goals of peace and equality.
“The foundation is being laid for yet another
generation of minority Americans to be denied
the American dream,” she cautioned.
In 1993, Chisholm was nominated to the
position of ambassador to Jamaica but was prevented
from assuming the role because of poor
health. In 1999, she was a commencement
speaker at San Diego State University College of
Health and Human Services, where she received
her 38th honorary degree. Chisholm received the
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF RETIRED PERSONS
(AARP) Andrus Award in May 2000. The award
is given biennially to nationally recognized older
Americans who have made significant contributions
to society. In an interview with AARP’s news magazine Modern Maturity, the former
congresswoman listed her grandmother,
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, and Harriet Tubman as
her three greatest influences and stated that race
and poverty were the two major issues that still
need to be addressed in modern America.

FURTHER READINGS
Brownmiller, Susan. 1970. Shirley Chisholm. New York: Doubleday.
Chisholm, Shirley. 2000. “The Straight-Talking Optimist.”
Interview by Mary Willis. Modern Maturity (May/June).
Available online at jun00/perspectives.html> (accessed June 19, 2003).
Scheader, Catherine. 1990. Shirley Chisholm: Teacher and
Congresswoman. Springfield, N.J.: Enslow.