Shirley Chisholm First African-American Woman Elected to the House of Representatives
Shirley Chisholm, a Democrat from Brooklyn, on this day became the first African-American woman elected to the House of Representatives.
On January 25, 1972, she became the first African-American woman to seek the nomination for president by one of the two major political parties. She was also a founding member of both the Congressional Black Caucus (March 30, 1971) and National Women’s Political Caucus (July 10, 1971).
Read: Shirley Chisholm, Unbought and Unbossed (1970)
Hear Chisholm speaking in 1972: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzM8fgRDI24
Learn more about Chisholm at the National Women’s History Museum: https://www.nwhm.org/education-resources/biography/biographies/shirley-anita-chisholm/
And more about women who ran for President: https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/president/president.html
Visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture here