Unbought And Unbossed by Shirley Chisholm

Despite the loss, Chisholm felt a sense of accomplishment. She received less than three percent of the 16 million votes cast. Her shoestring campaign fizzled from the start. I am the candidate of the people and my presence before you symbolize a new era in American political history.” “I am not the candidate of the women’s movement of this country, although I am a woman and equally proud of that. “I am not the candidate of black America, although I am black and proud,” said Chisholm, announcing her candidacy.

“None of them supported her,” Caldwell said. Chisholm angered her fellow Black Caucus members for not informing them privately of her presidential bid. Then New York mayor John Lindsay and George McGovern, both also 1972 Democratic presidential nominees, urged Chisholm to withdraw. Four years later in 1972, with her feistiness in overdrive, the lone woman among the 13 founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus became the Democratic Party’s first woman nominee for President of the United States. Shirley Chisholm: Champion of Black Feminist Power Politics presents a “comprehensive political biography” that moves beyond symbolism, weaving Chisholm's public image with her private experiences to create “a definitive account of a consequential life.”īrian Purnell, author of Fighting Jim Crow in the County of Kings: the Congress of Racial Equality in Brooklyn, joins in conversation.That is how former New York Times reporter Earl Caldwell described Brooklyn native Shirley Chisholm when she strolled into the nation’s political arena 54 years ago and became the first Black woman elected to Congress in 1968. Curwood argues in this new biography, she took her own path, making signature contributions as a forerunner of black feminist power-centering black women in a movement that sought to create a broadly democratic force through multicultural, multigenerational, and cross-gender coalition-building. Formed by her early years in Barbados and Brooklyn, her political development and outlook did not follow the standard of the civil rights and feminist establishments. Shaking up local and national politics by becoming the first African-American congresswoman and the first black (major party) presidential candidate, Shirley Chisholm left an indelible mark as an 'unbought and unbossed' firebrand and a leader in politics.

Unbought And Unbossed by Shirley Chisholm