Asked by rugggy j
Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was her full name. She was born on November 30,1924 and died on January 1,2005. Born poor to immigrant parents. Her father was from British Guiana, which is now called Guyana, and her mother was from Barbados. Shirley Chisholm grew up in Barbados, and also in New York City. She received a good education in Barbados while living with her maternal grandmother. At the age of ten, she returned to New York to live with her parents again, and went to public schools. She attended Girl’s High School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, which is a section of Brooklyn with a growing poor black and immigration population. After graduating college in 1946, she worked as a nursery school teacher. Later she worked as a director of schools for early childhood education. In 1949 she got married to Conrad Chisholm. Having such achievement as a teacher, she ran for the New York State Assembly in 1964, and won. During the time she was in the assembly, she had sponsored fifty laws, but only eight of them passed. The bills that she sponsored were related to her interest of the cause to blacks and the poor, women’s rights, and educational opportunities. She served in the State Assembly until 1968. She was the first black woman elected for congress. Shirley Chisholm always considered herself a politician. In 1972 she became the first woman to run for president. Being an anti war protestor was one of the many reasons why she ran for president. Many people thought it was strange, and weird for her to run for president of the United States. She claims that during her interest in politics, she had faced more discrimination as a woman, rather then being black. Although she didn’t win the 1972 presidential election, Shirley Chisholm had 150 votes on the first ballot. After Shirley Chisholm and her husband Conrad Chisholm divorced in 1977, Shirley Chisholm met a new man. That following year, she remarried to a guy named Arthur Hardwick. She stayed with him until his death in 1986. Shirley Chisholm fought for women rights, Native Americans, and the poor. She would speak about people of color frequently, such as Native Americans. She grew up poor, and believed that the rights that men had should be as fair, and as balanced as the rights for women should be. She believed that she should be a type of person who would fight for the better and to change all the wrong things that society has done. Since Shirley Chisholm became a teacher, she had also believed that she could change society by helping children. When she fought for her rights, her voice was convincing and strong. She wasn’t afraid to speak her mind to. Her words were powerful, and so was she. Shirley Chisholm herself said that her greatest tool was her mouth. In 1969, she helped form the Congressional Black Caucus. Shirley Chisholm was also a member of the National Organization for Women. In 1982, Shirley Chisholm decided to leave the congress. She left because she felt as if all her speeches, and herself wasn’t being understood by the public. She claims that when she spoke on the influence as a tough, and truthful politician, people weren’t understanding the concept of it. She also wanted to spend more time with her second husband, Arthur Hardwick.