Shirley Chisholm was the first black woman elected to the US Congress. She was elected as a member of the House of Representatives in 1968 from New York. As she was elected not long after the multiple race riots of the mid 1960s, and made quite a splash.
She was also the first woman to run for President in a major party. I am old enough to remember Shirley Chisholm and her run in the primaries. Simply by being in the race with all men, fighting against Richard Nixon who was very popular in 1972, was little more than an exercise in futility.
BUT, she made headlines by being who she was. She raised critical issues, including ending the Vietnam War. She made news during the primaries, with many national news organizations covering her bid, knowing she would lose.
From Wikipedia:
Her campaign was underfunded, only spending $300,000 in total. She also struggled to be regarded as a serious candidate instead of as a symbolic political figure; the Democratic political establishment ignored her, and her black male colleagues provided little support. She later said, "When I ran for the Congress, when I ran for president, I met more discrimination as a woman than for being black. Men are men." In particular, she expressed frustration about the "black matriarch thing", saying, "They think I am trying to take power from them. The black man must step forward, but that doesn't mean the black woman must step back."
Despite the coverage, she had a very positive effect on young people like me. Still impressionable and in High School or College, her fans were not legion, but very motivated. Her success in Congress opened the door for Blacks in national politics.
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