Shirley Chisholm
Hill Chisholm was born on November 30, 1924 in Brooklyn, New York. Her
Father,
Charles St. Hill was an immigrant from French Guyana (now it is
called Guyana)
and her mother, Ruby (Seale) was an immigrant from Barbados.
Charles was a
factory worker and her mother was a seamstress and a mother to
help provide for
the family. Young couples had a hard time making ends meet,
and in hope of
saving some of their money, they sent their children back to
the Caribbean.
Shirley at 3 years old and her 2 younger sisters, Muriel
and Odessa went to live
with their grandmother in Barbados, where they stayed
for 7 years. When Shirley
returned to the U.S she was put into a class two
years ahead, but in a year she
caught up. When she graduated she was offered
scholarships to Vassar and
Oberilin colleges, but she enrolled in
Brooklyn College because it wasn’t
costly. At college in the 1940s, Shirley
majored in psychology and planned to
become a teacher since teaching was the
only thing profession open to black
women. Shirley graduated with a B.A. with
honors in 1946, then taught nursery
school while studying for a master’s
degree in elementary education at
Columbia University. During her college
years she joined the Harriet Tubman
society. In 1949she married a fellow
Columbia student by the name of Conrad
Chisholm, and she graduated with
her M.A. In 1960 Shirley helped form the Unity
Democratic Club to get
more blacks to run for 17 Assembly District of New York
State, and in
1964 she offered herself as a democratic candidate. She was chosen
as the
candidate. Shirley knew it would be hard but went to talk to people at
street
corners and neighborhood halls. Shirley won by a landslide. Shirley
served
the assembly for the next four years. She introduced more than fifty
bills
and two was passed. One was called the SEEK that helped kids to get
to
collage. The other was the first unemployment insurance program for
workers.
Before the 1968 congressional elections, a new 12th district was
created in New
York. Shirley decided to run for the seat but she knew it
would be hard against
James Farmer. Shirley won 34,885 votes to 13,777
votes. Shirley served the House
of Reps. from 1968 to 1983. In 1972 Shirley
campaigned for the presidential
nomination. Although she knew that she could
not win but and consider it not a
loss. She said her 1773 book, the Good
Fight, "the fact that a black woman
dared to run for President seriously, not
expecting to win but sincerely trying
to, is what it all about. ‘It can be
done’ After being twice reelected to
congress, Shirley retired in 1983,
because her second husband Arthur Hardwick
was very ill. She then returned to
teaching, served as Purington Professor at
Mount Holyoke Collage in
Massachusetts for the next four years. Shirley Anita
St. Hill Chisholm is
still live today as we speak.
Bibliography
1. Encyclopedia of
African-American Culture and History Volume 1 ©1996
2.
www.usbol.com/ctjournal/schisholmbio.html 3. Chisholm, Shirley.’Leaders
from
1960’s Westport Connecticut. Greenwood Press. 1994 4.
www.pathfinder.com/photo/essay/african/cap02.htm
5.
www.worldbook.com/fun/aajourny/html/bh095.html